Sales

Pegatron CEO and Piper Jaffray slam analysts who predicted poor iPhone 7 sales

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

The CEO of Pegatron, a Taiwanese contract manufacturer that assembles Apple handsets along with Foxconn, told Nikkei Asian Review he remained “cautiously optimistic” about iPhone 7 sales.

His comment targets a recent analyst report from KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo predicting fewer iPhone 7 sales in 2016 than the iPhone 6s garnered in 2015. Analyst firm Piper Jaffray, too, downplayed Kuo's negative report in an interview with AppleInsider, saying it's seeing similarities to the monster iPhone 6 upgrade cycle.

Top Apple analyst expects fewer iPhone 7 sales than iPhone 6s garnered in 2015

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 26, 2016

Despite Note 7 fires and carriers suggesting iPhone 7 sellouts, top Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities isn't entirely convinced that strong consumer demand will offset slowing shipments. In a note to clients obtained by AppleInsider, Kuo predicted 70-75 million iPhone 7 sales in 2016—lower than that of the iPhone 6s in 2015.

Kuo cautions that strong iPhone 7 sales are not “not entirely due to market demand” because carrier promotions inflated sales numbers and a larger amount of launch countries led to depleted inventories worldwide.

Apple stops reporting opening weekend sales numbers for new iPhones

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 8, 2016

An Apple spokesperson has confirmed to CNBC that the company won't be reporting opening-weekend sales numbers for the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, giving the publication a funny reason for the unexpected decision: due to demand outweighing supply, Apple feels that first-weekend sales stats are “no longer a representative metric” for investors and customers when it comes to iPhones.

To me, that sounds more like Apple management aiming to pre-empty any further fallout in case launch sales are not as high as Wall Street analysts like to predict.

Target says Apple product sales are down more than 20% in their stores

Cody Lee ∙ August 17, 2016

Target on Wednesday said that a drop in demand for Apple's products hurt its electronics sales during the second quarter. Reuters passes along comments made by the company's CEO Brian Cornell during today's conference call, who said sales of Apple products in their stores were down more than 20% year-over-year.

MetroPCS to start selling iPhones on July 1

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 30, 2016

MetroPCS, a prepaid wireless carrier in the United States that is part of T-Mobile USA, will start selling Apple's iPhones on July 1 in a limited number of retail stores in Florida. The program should expand nationwide following the Florida launch.

According to the official announcement from T-Mobile, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be available for $649 and $749, respectively

The iPhone SE and iPhone 5s will be available for $349 and $199, respectively.

Preliminary numbers show strong iPhone SE interest in China with 3.4 million pre-orders

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Apple's new four-inch iPhone SE could prove very popular in China, Apple's second largest market in terms of revenue, as launch weekend pre-orders from retailers have topped an estimated 3.4 million units, said CNBC on Monday. Data from local retailers reveals that Gold and Rose Gold are the most popular colorways among buyers in China. Those are preliminary figures: Apple has not publicly boasted about iPhone SE pre-orders as of yet.

Great deal: Mac app bundle with Parallels 11, 1Password and 6 other apps for just $80

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Supercharge your Mac with this Black Friday Bundle Deal from the good folks at Parallels. For just $80, you can pick up more than $500 worth of software, including apps like Parallels Desktop 11, Parallels Access, 1Password for Mac, Evernote Premium and more—a total of 8 useful, powerful applications.

Of course you all know what big fans of Parallels and 1Password we are here at iDB—we use the former in all of our virtual machine tutorials, and the latter is regarded as the best password management app for both Mac and iOS. Then there is Evernote and Pocket, neither of which need much introduction.

Early Best Buy Black Friday deals: up to $100 off Apple Watch, $125 off iPad Air 2

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 19, 2018

Heads up holiday shoppers. Best Buy is offering early access to some of its Black Friday deals in a limited-time, online-only sale. Until midnight tonight (CT), you can take advantage of discounts of up to $100 on Apple Watch, $125 off iPad Air 2, and various other promotional prices.

For Apple Watch, Best Buy is taking $50 off Sport models and $100 off of Stainless Steel models—easily one of the best deals we've seen on Apple's smartwatch. And for iPad, the retailer is knocking $100 off select 16GB and 64GB Air 2 models, and as much as $125 off of 128GB models.

An offer you can’t refuse: The Godfather Trilogy is just $10 on iTunes right now

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Thanksgiving is on Thursday, and unless you work in retail, chances are you have a long weekend coming up. And what better way to spend your extra free time than by watching one of the most popular film series in cinematic history: The Godfather Trilogy.

For a limited time, iTunes is offering the 3 movies, which follow the fictional Corleone crime family through the course of its history in the US and their homeland in Sicily, for just $9.99. That's a savings of at least $20 over its Best Buy and Amazon counterparts.

Deal alert: tons of great albums currently on sale on iTunes

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

iTunes is currently having a massive sale on some great albums, all of them available for only $6.99. Of course, if you are an Apple Music subscriber, it might not be worth it to you, but if you like to buy and own your music albums, then there are a few deals in there you can't pass.

Apple: iPhone 6s on pace to beat last year’s 10 million pre-order record

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 14, 2015

Apple this morning confirmed in a statement issued to CNBC that its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are “on pace” to beat the ten million pre-order record established during last year's first-weekend sales of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The number flies in the face of many clueless analysts who said Apple wouldn’t be able to hit that number this time around because the iPhone has peaked.

Interestingly enough, Apple touted “exceptionally strong” pre-orders for the larger-screened and more expensive 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus, with the initial stock sold out globally.

The company did not announce opening weekend iPhone 6s sales at the time of this writing but we're expecting them to announce the new record via a press release shortly.

Report states that Apple Watch sales face a major decline, but take it with a grain of salt

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Slice Intelligence, is reporting that Apple Watch sales (US only) are facing a significant slowdown, as noted by MarketWatch this afternoon. Per Slice, the Apple Watch has gone from a peak of around 200,000 units a day right around launch, to under 20,000 units a day.

Obviously, this sort of data isn't based on cold hard facts—only Apple itself would be able to provide us with 100% accurate numbers—but this kind of report does put a gloomy cloud over the Apple Watch.

Should Apple be worried? It's simply way too early to tell right now.

But one must remember that, unlike its iPhone and iPads, the Apple Watch is a brand new product category, and Apple has been met with significant supply chain constraints. Remember, it wasn't that long ago when you couldn't even walk into a store and buy one.