There has been hype lately regarding the upcoming iPhone 7. A string of changes is rumoured to be housed in the next iteration of iPhone. According to Forbes, amid to the growing competition, the Cupertino giant has decided to slash the price of iPhone 7 by $100, news that would please many Apple fans. There is a bunch of overwhelming surprises from Apple making the buying decision of iPhone now a bad decision. WSJ recently revealed that the iPhone behemoth has also decided to put an end to its 16GB entry level variant of iPhone.
The pricing strategy has been a colossal problem for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for years. Due to the lack of innovation Apple’s expensive iPhone 6s devices saw fewer adoption rates in the market and in turn its revenue declined in Q1 2016. Apple’s future appears lack lustred according to a number of analysts who have estimated that the sales of iPhone 7 may not be exemplary.
The clash of Titans
Samsung’s Galaxy S7 which was launched in March 2016, grabbed a sizable number of Apple’s customers in the US alone and in turn overshadowed the Cupertino giant’s flagship device. While the holiday quarter, Q4 2015, belonged to Apple the following quarter, ended on March 30, 2016, was dominated by its rival Samsung.
To make the turf more difficult to perform for Apple, the Korean giant is not leaving any stone unturned and is currently betting on innovation. Samsung is working on bendable screen smartphone and citing the need of the hour Apple is working on wrap-around-display.
Hard to predict
In spite of the buzz, iPhone 7 may incorporate some major changes like replacing the 3.5 mm headphone jack with a Type-C port in order to make the device thinner. Design wise iPhone 7 is expected to be similar to iPhone 6s, apart from redesigned antenna bands at the back of the phone. Besides all, the next iPhone may be waterproof as Apple has recently received the approval on filed patents and may house a state-of-the-art 16-megapixel camera.
Despite the mixed response from major analysts, the Cupertino-based firm has ordered its suppliers to manufacture 72-78 million units of the next iPhone. Predicting the future of Apple is a daunting task in the current scenario as tech pundits are vying for the iPhone 8 as it would be launched on the tenth anniversary of Apple. The iPhone 8 may mark the company’s return to all glass approach and may house the OLED screens as recently Apple has entered into a 3-year contract with Samsung to provide 100 million OLED panels.
Final words
The Cupertino giant is currently struggling in its potential markets – China and US. China had recently banned iPhone 6 sales in Beijing following a patent dispute, earlier the government also banned its services. Adding salt to the wound, copycats have started penetrating China market with the clone of the next iteration of iPhone; iPhone 7 is already selling in China sounds hilarious but iPhone 7’s clone has already hit the market of China thus further annoying Apple.
The iPhone behemoth is sweating it out to reconquer its lost Chinese Golden markets for its iPhone. The rising competition from Chinese smartphone manufacturers has taken a toll on iPhone’s sales in the current scenario. To better understand the Chinese markets Apple has invested a whopping $1 billion in China’s taxi service DiDi Chuxing.
The growing competition and other challenges in China are not the only worries for Apple; the company’s homegrown market, US is inching towards saturations and the global market scenario is not overwhelming as well. The only potential market for smartphone manufacturers that is left is India. India has a mere 17% smartphone penetration and the growth prospects are fantabulous. Gartner has estimated a 29% YoY rise in smartphone shipments in India by the end of 2016.
Therefore, to reap the most of it, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple has invested heavily in India. Despite, the Indian Government decided to put a ban on Apple’s golden egg-laying hen in India- refurbished iPhones following the piling e-waste in the country. This shows that Indians opt for budget devices more and they would prefer features in the device instead of brand name. Therefore, lowering the price of iPhone 7 could be a masterstroke for Apple and in turn, may act as the catalyst for its frozen iPhone sales in the future.
[poll id=”56″]
