Despite earnings, sales of iPhones are giving Apple a reality check
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple is making more money than ever, but it still doesn’t seem to be enough to keep everyone happy. Not with conspiracy theories swirling around Apple’s secret slowdown of older iPhones while a cloud of uncertainty looms over its high-priced iPhone X.
It’s a reality check for a company accustomed to an unflinchingly loyal customer base. Apple expected buyers to embrace the iPhone X as a revolutionary device worth its $1,000 price, but it’s still not clear how many people are willing to ante up, especially with other recently released models selling for $200 to $300 less.
Apple sold 77.3 million iPhones in its fiscal first quarter, about 1 million fewer than at the same time in the previous year, which included an additional week because of quirk in the calendar. Despite the smaller window of time, analysts had predicted Apple would sell 80 million iPhones in the past quarter, according to FactSet.
What’s more, consumers disillusioned with the slowdown may be even less inclined to upgrade in the months ahead.
Apple attributed the slowdown to its effort to prevent unexpected crashes caused by aging batteries, and it’s now offering to replace those batteries for just $29. That $50 discount is available as part of Apple’s apology for not being more forthcoming about what it did.
Apple doesn’t break down iPhone sales by model, instead reporting only the total number all phones sold. Apple sold its iPhones, including the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, for an average of $796 during the past quarter, a roughly $100 increase from the previous year.
That helped lift Apple’s profit 12 percent from the previous year to $20.1 billion.