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> People buy the X because it's a status symbol and they want to be seen with it. I think Apple may have overplayed their bet on this point. Unless their top e

> People buy the X because it's a status symbol and they want to be seen with it. I think Apple may have overplayed their bet on this point. Unless their top end clients are going to buy the 8, then dump those on the market and start buying the 10. If it is a status symbol, then those people are going to want the latest iphone, regardless of cost, right? In that case, many of the people who are already flaunting their 8's will have to make the decision of either holding onto the 8, or moving to the 10. I'm sure those pure status symbol seekers will indeed move to the 10, but doing so could create a large increase in stock on the 8 and driving down its price. Do you think the way they positioned it was done on purpose with the $1000 price tag so they're not losing their shirt when their market starts to cannibalize itself?

dkrich 9y ago
I'm certainly not knowledgable enough to try and get inside the head of Apple's strategic decision makers, but if I had to guess I would say that they already had a proven form factor and supply chain in place to produce the 8 and 8 Plus so they chose to launch with three models instead of just one or two because: 1) There was execution risk with the X. Had they run into supply chain issues or the facial recognition didn't work properly, they would still have had a new phone to launch. 2) $1k is an elevated price point and so the 8/8 Plus present a hedge against risk that consumers won't pay more than $800 for the X. 3) Perhaps most importantly, from what I read Apple couldn't have produced enough X's to come close to meeting the initial demand, which is in large part why the raised the price in the first place. Keep in mind that if they had not released the 8's early with plenty of supply, lots of those buyers would have wanted the X. If you have a supply shortage, raising the price is the obvious move. But then that leaves huge swaths of people who want to give you their money and stay in your ecosystem who are unable to because they have to wait months to get the phone. So if those theories are true, then we should expect the 6/7/8 form factor to be sunset after this release cycle and then the X and the reported larger X Plus (or whatever it will be called) will be the new form factor once the supply chain and demand concerns have worked themselves out. I think the multi release was just a bridge to get them to the new price point and form factor.

dkrich 9y ago

I'm certainly not knowledgable enough to try and get inside the head of Apple's strategic decision makers, but if I had to guess I would say that they already had a proven form factor and supply chain in place to produce the 8 and 8 Plus so they chose to launch with three models instead of just one or two because: 1) There was execution risk with the X. Had they run into supply chain issues or the facial recognition didn't work properly, they would still have had a new phone to launch. 2) $1k is an elevated price point and so the 8/8 Plus present a hedge against risk that consumers won't pay more than $800 for the X. 3) Perhaps most importantly, from what I read Apple couldn't have produced enough X's to come close to meeting the initial demand, which is in large part why the raised the price in the first place. Keep in mind that if they had not released the 8's early with plenty of supply, lots of those buyers would have wanted the X. If you have a supply shortage, raising the price is the obvious move. But then that leaves huge swaths of people who want to give you their money and stay in your ecosystem who are unable to because they have to wait months to get the phone. So if those theories are true, then we should expect the 6/7/8 form factor to be sunset after this release cycle and then the X and the reported larger X Plus (or whatever it will be called) will be the new form factor once the supply chain and demand concerns have worked themselves out. I think the multi release was just a bridge to get them to the new price point and form factor.