The iPhone X is Apple’s best iPhone ever. It’s also the most expensive iPhone ever made, starting at $999, which may be a prohibitive price for many potential buyers. A report late last week said the iPhone X is convincing more people in China to buy the iPhone, with more Android users switching to iPhone after the iPhone X’s launch.
But the phone isn’t doing as great in other markets, a different report from late last week said, adding that Apple is considering cutting iPhone prices come early 2018.
The news comes from Digitimes report that largely flew under the radar on Friday, ahead of the holidays, but was picked up by The Motley Fool.
Digitimes said that iPhone X shipments will reach 30-35 million in the first quarter of the year, and stay flat or drop slightly in the first quarter of 2018, according to sources in the semiconductor packaging and testing service industry. A Bloomberg report on Monday painted a similar picture. Various analysts said that Apple is dropping orders with Asian suppliers following lackluster iPhone X demand over the holidays.
Getting back to Digitimes, the report notes that iPhone X sales in Singapore, Taiwan, and the US are not as strong as expected. That “weak” performance is apparently to blame for Apple’s decision to make three iPhone X successors next year, including two OLED models and an LCD display, with all of them expected to make use of the Face ID technology pioneered by the iPhone X.
The gem is buried right at the end of the report:
Apple is also rumored to adjust its pricing for iPhone devices in early 2018 and has even started preparing a prototype iPhone with support of pre-5G features. However, Apple has not officially confirmed any of the rumors.
Apple usually drops prices for older iPhones when a new iPhone arrives. The iPhone X is hardly old, so it’ll be interesting to see whether this wild rumor pans out. If accurate, the iPhone X may become slightly more affordable, as will other models. The question is, how will iPhone X buyers who paid at least $999 for the device feel?
Apple has dropped the price of the original iPhone. The first iPhone launched in June 2007, priced at $600. In early September, Apple cut the price to $400. At the time, Steve Jobs announced that early buyers who paid the full $600 will get a $100 store credit.
