According to several reports, Apple buyers are finding last year's supersized Plus model a better value than this year's iPhone 7. It has been confirmed that recent smartphone customers increasingly are opting towards the iPhone 6s as it was pointed out that customers are now unwilling to pay for a premium phone full of incremental improvements.
Apple's Slow Decline
According to TheRegister, mature smartphone markets have been growing constantly for several years, where its global growth has rooted from emerging markets led by India and China. Apple's slow decline was temporarily put on hold by making larger iPhones, going out of its self-imposed 4" display limit.
Apple Falls 2% Last Year
But just last year, analysts were pointing to some new weaknesses in the slowly-changing iPhone lineup. Fatigue was identified as a factor by experts who noted that Apple's share fell from 14 percent globally to 12 percent.
What Caused Apple's Collapse?
There's also a more obvious reason than fatigue. In addition to adding little new features other than waterproofing, Apple also made some significant changes from its traditional iPhone design, specifically by removing the analog headphone jack from both of the latest iPhones. Even though Apple included an adapter in the iPhone 7 bundle, the removal of the jack was the single most notable feature of the device that later on proceeded to steal all the headlines.
According to IndianExpress, Apple must be hoping that is actually the explanation for the new models failing to shift - but they are unlikely to acknowledge it publicly. If it isn't the case, and buyers are just simply more aware of the value, then new gimmicks that will come along into this year's iPhone 8 may not be enough to renew the declining demand.
With that, people are now seeing why Apple is considering a very expensive move into content production and taking Augmented Reality seriously. The last new Apple hardware that captured that public's imagination was the iPad launch, which was almost seven years ago.
