Apple’s active devices (2016-2020) DAN RUNKEVICIUS
Posted on 08/12/2020 8:04:56 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Rumor has it that Apple (APPL) AAPL -3% will release its cheapest ever top-tier phone this fall.
Influential tech magazine Tom’s Guide recently posted a leak claiming iPhone 12 will retail starting at $549. That’s almost half of what Apple charged for iPhone X a few years ago.
This raises the question: Why is the most premium tech product maker all of a sudden selling itself short? I’ll show in a moment, Apple’s business is entering a new era where iPhone profits won’t matter anymore.
Low price tags might seem like a desperate move to fend off competition. But like a chess master plotting several moves ahead, Apple is using cheap phones to seize what Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, calls the “mother of all opportunities.”
iPhone is hands-down the most successful product in history. Since its introduction, Apple sold more than a trillion dollars’ worth of iPhones. And for years, iPhone generated more than half of Apple’s total sales.
But iPhone was more than Apple’s biggest money maker. It was Apple’s gateway into the pockets of over a billion people.
Take a look at this chart. It shows the growth of Apple’s active devices all across the world:
Thanks to iPhone, Apple now has 1.5 billion active devices—phones, watches, etc.— used by over a billion people from all across the world. The company added a whopping half billion devices during the last few years alone.
Think about it, nearly one in seven people now carry around an Apple device every day.
Today, those 1.5 billion active devices are the single most important driver of Apple’s business.
Apple makes tons of money outside an Apple store
It does so through a myriad of services connected to Apple devices.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
But then again I don’t even carry a cell phone.
Perfect timing for my future iPhone 12 5.4” this fall. I have found my current iPhone SE to be *almost* indispensable.
I just play CDs. I guess I’m old fashioned.
451 right now 1130 Central
They get any bigger they’ll have to call them iBricks
Hence the reason for the 5.4" iPhone 12. Leaked schematics of that phone show it's actually only a little bigger than the beloved iPhone 5/5S/SE (2016) design, a phone beloved by many users because of its compactness by 2020 standards.
I just play CDs. I guess I’m old fashioned.
But our 2018 Honda came with neither a CD player nor GPS, they kind of expect you to use your phone for those sorts of things. The phone GPS, besides being ‘free’ (not counting the price of the phone, of course) are better than the car GPSs in that they are completely up-to-date. Toyota wanted $100 to update our old Camry’s GPS.
a Bluetooth cassette thing to pair my phone with
Oooh, what a good product idea!
Are they going to include a headphone jack? I work electronic retail and I sell headphone adapters all day long.
Oooh, what a good product idea!
I'd see the Bluetooth adapters for "old school" home stereos before, thought those were a good idea too.
I have one Apple stick certificate, framed, as a long ago anniversary gift from the wife.
It’s been a long time since I saw a dividend check. Usually about 5 bucks or so.
No, and you don't really want one.
The charging/headphone connector is very nearly waterproof. A headphone jack is not.
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You do realize that the laws of probability are location-dependent. On a golf course nothing ever goes into a hole, in a bathroom almost every dropped item gets submerged.
AAPL has learned well the lessons of MSFT.
When computers were young, Microsoft stole the lion’s share of the market by having cheap computers that became ubiquitous.
Well the new computer is a smart phone. And Apple is now the one that is ubiquitous. A cheap enough handset and they will take most of the market.
And wearables are next. My Apple Watch will do everything one of the old flip phones did 15 years ago. Including make phone calls.
Aside: I’ve long said that the inventor of car GPS units was either a guy sick of being told by the missus to stop and get directions or a wife sick of having to badger her husband to do so.
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Soon to be thing of the past. The physical size of the headphone jack presents challenges to how thin you can make the phone. Width and height seem to not be an issue as bigger seems to be better, but thinner seems to still be a goal of phone manufacturing. Hence, no headphone jack. Sad as I prefer wired headphones.
Now if we can only figure out why you can buy a 75 inch 4K tv for less than $900.00 at Costco.
Not surprising, Gold and Silver have nearly double in price the last few months.
Live Spot Prices: Gold Ask $1,933.18 Silver Ask $25.61
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