Yesterday, Apple hosted its Q3 earnings call to share the latest data regarding the sales of its iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, Macs, iPads, Apple Watches, and services. iPhone revenue checked in at $39.6 billion compared to $40.6 billion during the same quarter a year ago. That amounts to about a 2% drop year over year, which aligns with analyst estimates.
While Apple no longer discloses how many iPhone units it has sold (so we don’t know how many iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Pro models have actually been bought), it’s interesting to see that not even the Cupertino company is immune to global economic downturns. In its preliminary shipment report, Omdia shows that global smartphone shipments continue to decline year-on-year for the eighth consecutive quarter, indicating that Apple is following the trend of other smartphone makers.
What’s interesting about this year’s iPhone shipment decline is that around the third quarter, the Pro models usually sell less, and the base models gain traction, as customers just looking for a new phone – but not necessarily the best phone – opt for a base iPhone rather than a Pro.
The opposite happened with the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max, as the base models are failing to overtake the premium models.
“Apple has strong sales of premium models such as the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, while the standard and Plus models sluggish sales compared to their predecessors. Normally, from the second quarter, the standard model should drive up the overall quantity, but this year it is different. Demand for Pro and Pro Max is increasing, especially among high-income consumers,” said Jusy Hong, Senior Research Manager at Omdia.
This analysis corroborates other reports claiming that Apple learned its lesson and will make the base iPhone 15 more enticing, so users will be upgrading to both iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models instead of just the higher-priced versions.
For this year’s iPhone 15, Apple will focus on a design change and camera upgrades with the Dynamic Island cutout and a 48MP main camera with an exclusive module to absorb more light. In addition, the company is reportedly ditching the Lightning port for a USB-C port.
With the iPhone 15 Pro also rumored to cost more, Apple may see the base model sales grow. For Apple to ship more iPhone 14 units from now on, it will have to discontinue the iPhone 13, as they are basically the same model but with a few tweaks.
