In no time, Apple will announce its estimates for the December quarter, and all critics' attention will be on its new flagship, the Apple iPhone 7. Experts expect Apple to announce the 78 million iPhone sales for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2017, a 4 percent increase from last year. A new report also shows that Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus has been the supreme star of last quarter series, which seems to hint that the most anticipated iPhone 8 will not be as cheap as you expected.
Apple Survived, Thank You iPhone 7 Plus
The Wall Street Journal concluded that strategy of Apple to differentiate the existing iPhone 7 Plus from the iPhone 7 more than it did with their predecessors works for the company. Aside from the screen and battery size differences, the Apple iPhone 7 Plus is superior to the iPhone 7 in two more key aspects, those are the camera and RAM. These two features are enough of a differentiator for Apple to make the price of the iPhone 7 Plus high compared to the iPhone 6s Plus.
According to Cowen & Co, the Apple iPhone 7 Plus accounted for 40 percent of the 58.5 million total of the iPhone 7 series sold in the December quarter. That is 17 percent more compared to the iPhone 6s Plus sales last year. The UBS estimates that it’s also enough to help increase the average selling price (ASP) of iPhones sales to $693 for the December quarter, up to $2 from a year ago. That is despite Apple facing with a lowered iPhone 7 demand compared to its predecessors.
The Apple iPhone 7 Plus was a hit in many countries especially in China, even though iPhone sales dropped 10 percent in the December quarter. It was also more popular than the iPhone 7 in the US, which is 47 percent of sales went to the phablet compared to 35 percent last year “The market is saying, 'We still value what Apple is doing and value it enough to even spend more on it',” Creative Strategies analyst Ben Bajarin said, addressing the fact that many $300 phones offer similar features as the Apple iPhone 7 phones.
The Rumored Apple iPhone 8 Will Release Soon
On Tuesday, Apple will announce its actual results for the recent period. I'm sure all of us will be on Apple’s rumored iPhone 8 this year and the 10th anniversary of iPhone. “The iPhone base wants a new, cooler iPhone,” Cowen’s Tim Arcuri said. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand for a product with newer, cooler features.” Arcuri said that Apple “pulled that [pricing] lever like never before” with the iPhone 7 Plus. He also estimates there’s “even more room” for Apple to increase prices on future devices.
According to 9to5Mac, the upcoming Apple iPhone 8 could introduce facial recognition feature using new laser sensor. Arcuri tells that Apple's rumored smartphone is expected to include a new 5.8-inch model with an OLED wraparound display, wireless charging, “some form of facial/gesture recognition supported by a new laser sensor and an infrared sensor mounted near the front-facing camera”, and Touch ID embedded in the display.
In addition to the display upgrades, the new rumored Apple iPhone 8 is said to feature an all-glass design, which is similar to that of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. It’s also been rumored that the next flagship smartphone of Apple will introduce new color options with the iPhone 8, such as color red or Jet White. Wireless charging, a feature that has been rumored for several years, now looks as if it might finally be coming to the iPhone in 2017.
