Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Monday 5 February 2018

Apple, once again, has a bad case of the iPhone jitters

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE $200 to $300 less. quickly faded. Those con-
AP Technology Writer The first clues about con- cerns are the primary rea-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — sumers’ interest in the son Apple’s stock had fall-
Apple is making more iPhone X emerged Thurs- en about 7 percent since
money than ever, but it day with the release of hitting an all-time high two
still doesn’t seem to be Apple’s fiscal first-quarter weeks ago. The shares re-
enough to keep everyone earnings report. That pe- covered some of those re-
happy. Not with conspira- riod covered the final three cent losses after the quar-
cy theories swirling around months of last year, includ- terly numbers came out,
Apple’s secret slowdown ing the early November gaining $5.62 to $173.40 in
of older iPhones while a debut of the iPhone X. after-market trading.
cloud of uncertainty looms Apple sold 77.3 million The iPhone X is unlike any
over its high-priced iPhone iPhones in the quarter, other iPhone in the de-
X. about 1 million fewer than cade-long history of Ap-
It’s a reality check for a at the same time in the ple’s best-selling product
company accustomed previous year, which in- In this Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, file photo, a customer hands over line. It features a brighter
to an unflinchingly loyal cluded an additional cash as she pays for an iPhone X at the Apple Store on New screen that spans the de-
customer base. Apple ex- week because of quirk in York’s Fifth Avenue. vice from edge to edge,
pected buyers to embrace the calendar. Despite the Associated Press and boasts facial recogni-
the iPhone X as a revolu- smaller window of time, is available as part of Ap- it as its top-selling model in tion technology for unlock-
tionary device worth its analysts had predicted ple’s apology for not being every week since its release ing the device and other
$1,000 price, but it’s still not Apple would sell 80 million more forthcoming about in early November. features.
clear how many people iPhones in the past quarter, what it did. “We feel fantastic about Although those changes
are willing to ante up, es- according to FactSet. “Once you get past all the the results,” Cook said in a appear to be winning over
pecially with other recently What’s more, consum- enthusiasts who want the conference call with ana- consumers who flock to
released models selling for ers disillusioned with the iPhone X, you get down to lysts. “The most important the latest in technology,
slowdown of their devices a lot of people who think thing for us isn’t really the facial recognition technol-
may be even less inclined $1,000 is a lot of money for numbers. It’s customer sat- ogy may be turning off po-
to upgrade in the months a phone,” said analyst Bob isfaction and customer sat- tential buyers more com-
ahead. O’Donnell of the research isfaction is literally off the fortable with the familiar
Apple attributed the slow- firm Technalysis. “We may charts on iPhone X.” home button on all other
down to its effort to pre- be getting near the peak But Apple’s revenue fore- iPhones, O’Donnell said.
vent unexpected crashes of the smartphone market, cast for the current quarter Apple doesn’t break down
caused by aging batter- and that impacts every- fell below analysts’ already iPhone sales by model, in-
ies, and it’s now offering to one, including Apple.” diminished expectations, stead reporting only the to-
replace those batteries for Apple CEO Tim Cook told fueling fears that early ap- tal number all phones sold.
just $29. That $50 discount a different story, describing petite for the iPhone X has That practice forces ana-
lysts to do a bit of guess-
work based on the limited
information that Apple
provides.
One inescapable con-
clusion is that the higher
prices of the iPhone X and
the other two other new
models, the iPhone 8 and
iPhone 8 Plus, are propel-
ling Apple’s earnings and
sales to record levels. Ap-
ple sold its iPhones for an
average of $796 during
the past quarter, a roughly
$100 increase from the pre-
vious year.
That helped lift Apple’s
profit 12 percent from the
previous year to $20.1 bil-
lion while revenue surged
13 percent to $88.3
billion.q