Whether you want to believe it or not, the profit generated from the sale of iPhone terminals has decreased constantly from 2012 until now, despite what the world believes. The graph below was made by American analysts and based on it, it can be seen that Apple's profit started to decrease in 2013, when it launched the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C on the market.
The following years brought constant decreases in profit, and analysts attribute this to the launch of smartphones that have screens of at least 5.5 inches. If in 2009 57.7% of the price of an iPhone was represented by Apple's profit, in 2016 only 40.8% of this amount represents the profit recorded by the American company from the sale of these products.
Apple spends more money on the production of iPhone terminals that have screens of at least 5.5 inches, and this affects the profit generated by them. Those from Cupertino should have increased the sales prices of the iPhone to much higher values than the current ones, but the extremely competitive environment in the smartphone market prevents them from doing this.
Although Apple sells some of the most expensive smartphones among all manufacturers, its profit is still lower from year to year. Even so, in Q3 2016 Apple collected almost all the profit of the smartphone manufacturers, and this although it did not have the highest sales among all the manufacturers on the global markets.
"Depending on price increases, larger screens could increase ASPs. However, margins might decline if build cost increases outstrip higher prices. Apple could end up selling Plus phones at closer to regular size prices. We believe accrual levels are still too low relative to claims and expect an increase in FQ1, which we think may limit upside potential to gross margin from warranties. On a rolling 24-month basis, claims per unit have been relatively steady, while accruals per unit have decreased, which suggests, to us, a greater likelihood of increased to accruals."
It's ok. Let's hope that better than next year they increase the price to have the same profit, and not to give up and close the doors
That's it, now if they make it more expensive, at least we know why. Let the shareholders be happy. Now I really can't be bothered anymore.
2009 was the time of the 3GS! It's one thing to have 57.7% profit on one piece of iPhone and sell 5 million and another is to have 40.8% profit and sell 15 million! Is it better to sell less with a high profit margin or to sell more with a slightly lower profit margin?
I personally don't think Apple is doing enough on the smartphone side
Is Apple spending more money on the 5,5-inch iPhone? Big cheese, do android manufacturers spend on 5, 7 and 6 inch smartphones, with superior hardware?
Apple wants to be cheap and sell expensive, they don't want to do anything innovative, they just have words and patents locked in drawers
Apple wants to pull some things for years and constantly increase the price so that the shareholders are satisfied and finally the users are satisfied with just owning Apple, the apple, THAT'S IT
And some wonder why the iPhone doesn't have the best hardware components, even though Apple is sitting on mountains of money
How greedy Apple is, no one will ever know... how much should the price of an iPhone be? $1200 in the basic version to make Apple happy?
The smartphone market is very fierce and forces manufacturers to bring better products and competitive prices
@anfetamin is one of the few here who thinks before saying something. It's a big deal nowadays to have a brain and know how to use it.
You are also right, and it is clear that overall, you can earn more money by selling more with a lower unit profit.
However, don't forget that the production of 5 million means less committed resources than the production of 15 million. This means that at 15 million there are more shareholders who lend resources to the company, and that large profit in absolute amount must be divided among several mouths. In total, fewer shareholders have more than 5 million units sold.
This business is not the property of a single man, and there are hundreds of thousands of shareholders who want their share of the profit.
Oh, how true you write George!! Apple makes a lot of money if it manages to obtain a Gross Margin of 40%. Apple wants to buy cheap and sell expensive, or that works when the product is absolutely new on the market, and consumers prefer to pay a higher price to have it. You cannot endlessly sell a mature product more expensive than the market sells.
If a car appeared tomorrow that works by levitation and uses solar energy, it is clear that that car could easily cost 1 million euros, and there would be enough customers who would like to have the "last racnet". In 10 years, other cars would appear, perhaps even more powerful, safer, etc. and it is clear that the first generation would no longer sell for 1 million because the market would be groaning with competing products.
Only 1 million?