5 ms·

> they are just bad customers who they will always have a hard time making money from The iPhone 12 mini still ended as one of the top 10 smartphone models sol

> they are just bad customers who they will always have a hard time making money from The iPhone 12 mini still ended as one of the top 10 smartphone models sold in January 2021.[0] There was also a new iPhone SE model that was half the price and roughly the same size. I wouldn't be surprised that most decided the iPhone SE was a better deal at the time. In fact, the iPhone 11 and iPhone SE were the top-selling iPhone models of 2020.[1] [0] https://www.patentlyapple.com/2021/04/in-january-iphones-captured-6-out-of-the-top-10-smartphone-models-shipped-with-the-iphone-12-dominating-the-top-3-spots.html https://www.patentlyapple.com/2021/04/in-january-iphones-cap... [1] https://wccftech.com/iphone-11-iphone-se-top-selling-phones-2020/amp/ https://wccftech.com/iphone-11-iphone-se-top-selling-phones-...

zamadatix 2y ago
Both of those sources paint the picture GP was telling. For 2020 the iPhone SE sells 2nd place in unit count... nearly tied with a unit that was out for 6 fewer months that year with twice the ASP. Nearly 1/3 the sales of the previous generation model that year. Same for the top 10 best selling models in Jan 2021, combine both the iPhone SE 2020 and iPhone 12 Mini and you've got the monthly sale volume of the previous generation iPhone 11 at half the sale price and 2 models worth of R&D. This data for a the year after a slump of smaller models not being available. If this was OnePlus or someone those would be decent numbers. The problem is they are Apple, they already held the top 4 spots by significantly larger margin with premium devices. Building low cost devices to only make 8th and 10th place with them isn't necessarily a win for them. They can just cut margin on the older versions of the popular models if they want to capture that price point without stifling their focus on their new products each year. The way people talk about smaller phones around here you'd expect the 2020 model was outselling new models through this day and the masses were waiting with bated breath for updates. Truth is there is just a smaller portion of the market that actually wants such phones when it comes time to upgrade but you here from them more often because they are one of the least common and least valuable segments of the market to try to service.

zamadatix 2y ago

Both of those sources paint the picture GP was telling. For 2020 the iPhone SE sells 2nd place in unit count... nearly tied with a unit that was out for 6 fewer months that year with twice the ASP. Nearly 1/3 the sales of the previous generation model that year. Same for the top 10 best selling models in Jan 2021, combine both the iPhone SE 2020 and iPhone 12 Mini and you've got the monthly sale volume of the previous generation iPhone 11 at half the sale price and 2 models worth of R&D. This data for a the year after a slump of smaller models not being available. If this was OnePlus or someone those would be decent numbers. The problem is they are Apple, they already held the top 4 spots by significantly larger margin with premium devices. Building low cost devices to only make 8th and 10th place with them isn't necessarily a win for them. They can just cut margin on the older versions of the popular models if they want to capture that price point without stifling their focus on their new products each year. The way people talk about smaller phones around here you'd expect the 2020 model was outselling new models through this day and the masses were waiting with bated breath for updates. Truth is there is just a smaller portion of the market that actually wants such phones when it comes time to upgrade but you here from them more often because they are one of the least common and least valuable segments of the market to try to service.