4 ms·
> Despite months of breathless hype, the iPhone X hasn’t sold as well as expected since its debut last year. Apple sold 77.3 million iPhones in the final quarte
by thomasedwards 9y ago
> Despite months of breathless hype, the iPhone X hasn’t sold as well as expected since its debut last year. Apple sold 77.3 million iPhones in the final quarter of 2017, below analysts’ projections of 80.2 million units.
Considering the iPhone was going to be a flop by those same analysts, I’d say selling 77.3 million of them is pretty good.
Who actually writes this rubbish? They missed out on 3 million phones, based on a number you made up? It was out of stock for weeks and is only now really available.
- astrodust 9y agoAnalysts always make these wildly stupid predictions and then throw a fit when Apple magically doesn't meet them. It's absurd. Meanwhile other companies like Uber lose "only" a billion dollars and the analysts are losing their minds.
- dep_b 9y agoIt's kind of weird that gaining marketshare in a shrinking market while increasing revenue per sold phone would be a bad thing just because some analist thought it would even sell better.
- astrodust 9y agoApple has always had a strange relationship with analysts, but post Jobs they started to generate increasingly insane projections. Part of the blame here is on Apple, they run an unusually secretive operation, where other companies would give a lot more in the way of guidance to help keep expectations more realistic.
- allwein 9y agoThey don't provide guidance on product mix, but they do provide guidance on expected revenue and margin. For Q1 2018 they projected between $84-$87 billion and came in at $88.3 billion. Apple has been historically accurate in nailing their projections, yet when analysts calculate the expected product mix, they either forget the mix and assume Apple is going to sell $80 billion in only iPhones, or they include the mix, which must mean they expect Apple to sell $120 billion worth of stuff.
- oflannabhra 9y agoYep, exactly. The lack of cognitive dissonance by the tech and finance press that covers Apple astounds me.
- ac29 9y ago>gaining marketshare Where is Apple gaining market share? As near as I can tell by available data [0], their market share has been pretty flat for the past decade. Apple's revenue share may be increasing as low and mid tier Android devices continue to improve and proliferate, though. https://www.statista.com/statistics/216459/global-market-share-of-apple-iphone/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/216459/global-market-sha...
- nihonde 9y agoIt’s just a way to try to manipulate the stock price. They feed this blatantly false story every year, then buy on the dip and arbitrage when Tim Cook inevitably proves them wrong. It’s very transparent if you follow AAPL over a long time. WSJ and Nikkei are the chief offenders every year.
- longerthoughts 9y agoI would love to see somebody hold analysts accountable for their projections by keeping a record of accuracy.
- reaperducer 9y agoOne of the Apple news sites used to do this. Every once in a while (quarter, maybe?) it would publish a list of predictions from a handful of analysts and compare their predictions to reality. I haven't seen it in a while, so I suspect it was MacNN (RIP).
- astrodust 9y agoJohn Gruber (Daring Fireball) would occasionally collect "claim chowder" and later call them out on their bullshit.
- oflannabhra 9y agoPhilip Elmer-Dewitt does this. Here [0] is his most recent report card for 4Q18. [0] - https://www.ped30.com/2018/02/02/best-worst-apple-analysts-q1-2018-edition/ https://www.ped30.com/2018/02/02/best-worst-apple-analysts-q...
- Brendinooo 9y agoI was wondering this myself. I found a few articles that referenced 80.2 million but didn't cite a source.
- ksk 9y agoThese same people come out and tell you to buy Apple stock. Apple doesn't seem to mind it then.. :)