This coming Tuesday, Apple will post its earnings report for the March quarter and, per usual, all eyes will be laser-focused on how many iPhones Apple managed to sell. While the March quarter for Apple is typically uneventful, Wall St. will be keeping a particularly close eye on iPhone sales figures given that the recent quarter marks the first time in which the iPhone X was available for purchase throughout an entire quarter. Recall, the iPhone X didn’t even launch until midway through the 2017 holiday quarter.
In the meantime, a number of analysts industry observers are lowering their expectations significantly. The most recent take on iPhone X sales comes to us from Canalys. Specifically, the research firm anticipates that iPhone X sales for the quarter may check in at 14 million units. And though Apple doesn’t break out iPhone sales across specific devices, Canalys, as a point of reference, maintains that Apple during the 2017 holiday quarter shipped 29 million iPhone X units.
“Apple’s iPhone X performance in Q1 is a clear indication of the challenges that premium smartphones now face,” Canalys analyst TuanAnh Nguyen, said in a press release. “The novelty of premium smartphones is wearing off, and features such as 18:9 displays and dual cameras are being commoditized quickly to lower ASPs.”
Notably, Canalys isn’t alone when it comes to predicting tepid iPhone X demand. Just last month, Citi issued a research note also claiming that iPhone X sales would fall somewhere in the 14 million range for the March quarter, with sales likely to drop to 7 million in the June quarter.
Though the iPhone X ranks incredibly high with respect to customer satisfaction, the reality may very well be that the device is simply far too expensive in a day and age where carrier subsidies have all but evaporated. Apple, though, will reportedly attempt to address that with its 2018 iPhone lineup. If you recall, it’s widely believed that Apple later this year will roll out a 6.1-inch iPhone with an edgeless LCD display. In doing so, Apple will provide users interested in a new form factor with a more affordable alternative to the OLED-based iPhone X.
