Carriers are seeing demand stabilize for new iPhones

“Carriers are seeing demand stabilize for new iPhones, according to new research,” David Marino-Nachison writes for Barron’s. “That could be good news for Apple investors, though it doesn’t address demand issues in China that have been a major concern this year.”
“In a Wednesday report, KeyBanc Capital Markets analysts said that surveys of iPhone sell-through at major carriers appeared ‘stable’ in January in much of the world,” Marino-Nachison writes. “‘Our latest carrier surveys across North America and Western Europe indicate demand for the iPhone remains muted, given the lack of new innovation and higher price points,’ wrote analyst John Vinh. ‘However, we did observe stable sell-through trends month-to-month in January, as carrier stores indicated results were largely in line with plan.'”
“Perhaps less encouraging, at least from a margin perspective: Carriers sold fewer of Apple’s newer high-end iPhones, the XS and XS Max models, putting their share of sell-through at about 50-50 with the XR, according to Vinh,” Marino-Nachison writes. “Apple recently stopped giving out unit sales data for iPhones, making investors more reliant [on] reports like these for clues.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple recently stopped giving out unit sales data for iPhones, making investors more susceptible to reports like these. TFTFY.
Obviously, as the year goes on, one would expect demand for Apple’s highest priced flagships to decline as those are precisely the type of iPhones that early adopters are likely to snap up within the first months of availability. Since the lineup was revealed, most observers expected iPhone XR to be Apple’s best-selling iPhone model for 2019.
As Apple intended. The iPhone XR is the X-class iPhone for the masses! – MacDailyNews, October 16, 2018
Why would the hoi polloi choose the 5.8-inch iPhone XS when they can get the 6.1-inch iPhone XR? They don’t know the difference between LCD and OLED, they have no idea what 3D Touch is, [it costs less], and it looks/works pretty much the same to them – plus it comes in colors (that they’ll immediately cover with a case; no matter, colors sell). — MacDailyNews, September 20, 2018
SEE ALSO:
ZDNet spends one month with the Apple iPhone XR: ‘The best new iPhone for most people’ – November 26, 2018
WSJ reviews Apple’s 6.1-inch iPhone XR: ‘The best feature-to-price ratio of any iPhone possibly ever’ – October 26, 2018
John Gruber reviews Apple’s iPhone XR: ‘The new iPhone most people should buy’ – October 23, 2018
Gizmodo reviews Apple’s iPhone XR: ‘Affordability done right’ – October 23, 2018
It took Apple less than four days to sell out initial iPhone XR supply – October 23, 2018
Some of Apple’s iPhone XR models are already sold out – October 19, 2018
Apple’s 6.1-inch iPhone XR looks set to become a huge blockbuster – October 16, 2018