Because the specifications and design have long been leaked by many revelations, therefore, the new iPhone SE launched at Apple's spring new product conference, the biggest suspense is only the starting price of 3499 yuan.
In terms of main configuration specifications, the new iPhone SE adopts a 4.7-inch screen, a resolution of 1334×750, equipped with Apple A15 chip, and the performance performance is greatly improved, providing 5G function support. Take a 12MP rear lens and a 7MP front lens.
Although the new iPhone SE is still not changing the soup, it cannot be ignored that it has pulled the price of Apple's 5G mobile phone down to the 3,000 yuan price segment. From this perspective, combined with Apple's strategy in the past two years, the "sinking" of the iPhone price is likely to help Apple open the second spring.
The iPhone product line covers almost all price points
Consumers familiar with Apple are well aware that most of its products are positioned at the high end. Taking the iPhone 4S as an example, in the era of Xiaomi's main 1999 yuan, its price is as high as 5000 yuan.
However, with the gradual narrowing of the smartphone dividend, Apple also realized that continuing to adhere to the high-end market will affect the overall market share. This is evident in the price cuts shortly after Apple released the iPhone XR, iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max in 2018.
Therefore, in 2019, when Apple launched the iPhone 11 series, it simply lowered the starting price. It turns out that Apple's strategy of reducing prices has indeed brought very significant results.
We only need to compare the shipments of Chinese smartphones in the first half of 2019 with the shipments of Q3 in 2019 calculated by IDC to clearly perceive the attractiveness of Apple's mobile phones for consumers after the price reduction.
In the first half of 2019, Apple's mobile phone shipments were 6.6 million units, accounting for 6.7%, down 6.2% year-on-year; in Q3, 2019, Apple's mobile phone shipments were 8.1 million units, accounting for 8.2%, up 5.9% year-on-year, and in the quarter, only Apple and Huawei's shipments showed an upward trend.
Perhaps because it tasted the sweetness, since then, Apple has covered the smartphone market of 3,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan through four product series of iPhone SE, iPhone basic model, iPhone digital model, iPhone digital Pro model, and iPhone digital Pro Max model. Of course, if you add the retired previous generation of products, then Apple may also go deep into the price segment below 3,000 yuan.
The market has proved that Apple's move has indeed been effective. According to data released by Counterpoint, 7 of all smartphones sold worldwide in 2021 are iPhones, and the iPhones occupy the top 5, namely the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 13, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 11.
However, it is worth noting that the profit of the iPhone is constantly declining. According to a report released by Counterpoint analyst Karn Chauhan, Apple's contribution to the total profit of the global smartphone market reached 92% at one point in 2017, but by Q3 2019, this figure dropped to 66%.
So why did Apple resist the pressure of sacrificing profit margins and launch many affordable iPhones?
Terminal sales such as Mac and iPad are also rising
In fact, we can't ignore that in the context of rising iPhone sales, the sales of other Apple terminals have also performed well.
For the third fiscal quarter of fiscal 2021, for example, Mac revenue was $8.24 billion, up 16% year-over-year; iPad revenue was $7.37 billion, up 12% year-over-year; wearables, home and accessories revenue was $8.775 billion, up 36% year-over-year; and services revenue was $17.486 billion, up 33% year-over-year.
In this regard, Apple CEO Cook said: "There are many new users who have begun to buy Apple's products, for example, in the past quarter, two-thirds of Mac and iPad Chinese users are new users, and 85% of Apple Watch Chinese users are new users." ”
Of course, this aspect is caused by the "sinking" of Apple products, but more importantly, it may also stem from the charm of Apple's "family barrel".
CNBC reported that 87 percent of people earning more than $100,000 a year in the U.S. own at least one Apple product, and each household has an average of 2.6 Apple products. When all the equipment forms a linkage, it will definitely play a role in boosting the overall sales volume and the stickiness of users.
As a result, Apple has actually created a virtuous cycle of hardware level, from low price to sales.
Apple's ARM ecology is the big killer
However, in fact, Apple does not attach great importance to the sales of hardware, compared to hardware, Apple actually pays more attention to the ecology of the soft level, and the differentiated experience that the latter can bring to consumers.
In fact, the strategy of ecological integration has actually become the consensus of the industry as early as the beginning of the development of the mobile Internet. In 2013, for example, tech blog AllThingsD reported that Microsoft had announced a major restructuring based on the idea of "One Microsoft."
It is reported that Microsoft planned to unify mobile phones, tablets and PC products under Belfioli for unified management, while also blurring the boundaries between large-screen mobile phones, small tablets and detachable notebooks. But unfortunately, due to the inherent shortcomings of smart phones, tablets, watches and other businesses, Microsoft's "One Microsoft" strategy has collapsed with Nadella's rise to power.
Subsequently, Apple, which has a layout in mobile phones, tablets, computers and other businesses, began to secretly promote the ecological integration strategy. For example, through the way of the cloud, strengthen the connection between the iPhone and the Mac and iPad.
Until June 2020, Apple announced at the WWDC Developer Conference that it will use two years to shift the chips used in the Mac product line from the X86 architecture provided by Intel to the self-developed ARM architecture. Its strategy of ecological integration began to make great strides forward. Subsequently, Apple released the M1 chip, and through the chip, updated the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, desktop all-in-one iMac, lightweight desktop Mac mini these 4 entry-level product lines.
At the spring new product launch on March 9, we once again saw iPad, Mac Studio and other products equipped with M1 processors. In this regard, Apple officially said: "The Mac series using Apple chips has made our transition plan almost successful, so now there is only the last product left, that is, the Mac Pro, but let's talk about it another day." ”
With Apple using the ARM architecture across its entire spectrum, it could accomplish Microsoft's unfulfilled ambitions — making iOS apps support the Mac and making the productivity software on the Mac backwards to the iPhone and iPad. From this perspective, the current iPadOS clearly has a lot of room for improvement.
Along this technical route, the high-performance, low-energy product characteristics of ARM chips are also likely to directly spawn Apple's next-generation computing platform.
This computing platform may be AR glasses, or it may be Apple cars. Although these devices are not yet clear, it is certain that Apple, as the upstream of the industrial chain and the initiative of the software ecosystem, wants to push open the door to the next era, which is much simpler than other technology companies.