Apple’s shock fall

AUSSIES have snubbed the pricey new iPhone, according to a trading update from online retailer Kogan.com.

Shares in the native e-commerce pioneer surged yesterday after it reported it had defied the doom and gloom surrounding the nation’s bricks and mortar retail sector to report its strongest Christmas period on record.

An unaudited update lodged with the share market by Kogan showed sales for the six months to December were 9.7 per cent higher than the same period a year earlier.

Sales of Kogan products and brands exclusive to the site were up by a more than healthy 23.6 per cent, as Kogan ended the year with more than 1.5 million active customers.

But strong sales in those channels were partly offset by a dramatic 46.7 per cent fall in Kogan’s “global brands” division, which includes the likes of Apple, Samsung and Google.

Kogan laid the blame squarely on a lukewarm reception to the latest iPhone models in Australia, pointing out global brand sales grew by 8.5 per cent when Apple was stripped out of the result.

“Global brands revenue… was significantly impacted by subdued demand for new Apple products which resulted in a significant reduction in sales, in particular of the new iPhone,” the company said in a statement.

Global tech titan Apple issued a shock revenue downgrade earlier this month, largely driven by weaker than expected sales of its new iPhone models XR, XS and XS Max in China.

It was the first time Apple had reduced its sales forecast in almost two decades.

The poor uptake of the new iPhone models, criticised for not offering enough new features to warrant an upgrade and being too expensive, has seen Apple lose its status as a $US1 trillion company.

Shares in Kogan gained 22.1 per cent, or 72c, yesterday to close at $3.97.