Apple can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to news about their iPhones — especially when it comes to sales.
And now today (April 15), Apple’s stock is down more than 1 percent, which comes after a Nikkei report that the company is continuing its iPhone production cut into the next quarter. The reason? Sales haven’t seemed to pick up.
The Nikkei report indicates that parts suppliers were the source of the most recent news, saying that Apple will continue reducing its productions plans through the end of June. That’s after already cutting its plans for the past quarter by 30 percent, according to the report.
In its debut in early April, the Apple iPhone SE — offering a neo-retro design on par with the aesthetics of older iPhone models (namely the iPhone 5) but most of the capabilities of its larger-screen modern counterpart, the iPhone 6s, at a lower cost — earned a mere 0.1 percent adoption of the iPhone market, reports analytics firm Localytics.
Adoption of the iPhone SE didn’t even cut into that of the iPhone 5, notes the firm, despite the fact the design similarities to the older model — but with more powerful software — had put the SE in a likely position to win over iPhone 5 users.
The iPhone SE — with a starting price of $399 and being released at a time when iPhone sales have begun to slow for Apple — is targeted at price-conscious Apple consumers in general, as well as those who have not upgraded their device for several iPhone generations and the aforementioned consumers who prefer the smaller size of the iPhone 5.
But coming soon, of course, will be the iPhone 7 (a September launch perhaps?), and if that model ends up being something different enough from the 6s, then that may be enough to give Apple back its edge. We’ll find out soon enough, but for now the only reports about the plans for the next iPhone are strictly speculation.