IPhone 8 demand dwindles as holdouts wait for iPhone X
The iPhone 8 has an iPhone X problem.
Smartphone buyers seem to be holding out for the high-end, high-priced iPhone X over the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus models that went on sale last month.
Fears that demand for the new model aren’t as strong as anticipated gripped investors Thursday, walloping shares of Apple and some of its suppliers. Apple shares, which had been close to a record high on hopes for the iPhone X due out next month, slid almost 2.4% Thursday, closing at $155.98.
The decline came after the Economic Daily News in Taipei reported that Apple cut orders for the iPhone 8 by more than 50%. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
In a quarterly earnings conference call Thursday, Rogers Communications CEO Joe Natale echoed reports from other wire- less carriers about light demand for the iPhone 8.
Canada’s biggest wireless company is seeing “anemic appetite” for the iPhone 8, Natale said. But, he added, “there’s lots of anticipation around the iPhone X and what it has to offer.”
And Verizon CFO Matt Ellis said Thursday the nation’s largest wireless carrier had fewer than expected smartphone upgrades in the third quarter.
Reports this week indicated the iPhone 8 was even being outsold by the iPhone 7, which Apple introduced last year and sells for $150 less.
Alex Howard, a longtime Apple user who is looking to upgrade his iPhone 6s, says he’s holding out for the iPhone X.
“As long as I’m spending this much on a device, I’d rather wait for a generational change instead
of an evolutionary one,” said Howard, deputy director of the Sunlight Foundation and a selfdescribed geek.
But in his circles, Howard says he’s an outlier. Friends, co-workers and family members are happy with their current devices or are buying the iPhone 8. “I know other geeks waiting,” he said.
Analysts say they expected growing anticipation for the iPhone X would lessen demand for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.
“Both models shipped in September and have been slow out of the gates based on our initial industry data, not surprising in our opinion as we view this release as the ‘appetizer’ to the main event being the iPhone X launch and product cycle,” Daniel Ives, head of technology research at GBH Insights, wrote in a research note this week.
“With more complex production issues with this next generation OLED device, Apple needed to release these new phones back to back in our opinion even though it has naturally tempered demand for the iPhone 8 product family in the near-term as consumers await for the next generation iPhone X release to hit the stores.”
Many analysts are viewing the iPhone X as a potential game changer for Apple. Ives calls the iPhone X product cycle “the longawaited ‘silver bullet of growth’ to unleash Apple’s next phase of consumer growth.”
Others say sales of the highend device, which features a new design with an edge-to-edge OLED screen and facial recognition technology, could be hampered by the higher price — $999 — and supply constraints.