When Apple began to fight for cost performance

On April 24th, iPhone 16 related topics appeared on the hot search, LeaksApplePro in X, that is, the number of fans on Twitter is about 36,200, which broke the news that Apple this year iPhone 16 Pro starting storage is 256GB, and the price may remain 999 US dollars, and the domestic starting price is 7999 yuan unchanged.

When the price increase of memory is a foregone conclusion, Apple's "increase in volume without price increase" seems to violate the law of the industry, but in the view of the industry, this is just a manifestation of Apple's return to the reality of the market, 1TB mobile phone popularization, if the iPhone makes a fuss about the memory and maintains a high premium, it is bound to further reduce the cost performance, resulting in the loss of potential users, and now Apple, which has a decline in shipments, has to make a rational choice.

Why buck the trend

According to market news, the iPad 2024 model also has a new trend, unlike the iPhone 16, the new iPad may improve the performance while the price is also rising, it is reported that the new iPad Air will have a 12.9-inch version, which is the largest size in the history of the series. In terms of price, the 12.9-inch version of the iPad Air will be $200 more expensive, with a starting price of $799, or about 5,750 yuan, which is also the highest in the history of the Air series.

For the iPhone 16, if the news is true, then Apple can be said to be bucking the trend, because the price of memory chips has been slowly rising since the second half of last year, and it is still climbing.

Samsung plans to raise the price of enterprise-level solid-state storage by 20%-25% in the second quarter of this year on the basis of the previous quarter, and TrendForce released a report pointing out that the NADA Flash contract price is expected to rise by 13%-18% in the second quarter.

However, in the opinion of experts, the market does not need to worry about Apple, because Apple has long earned excess profits on memory capacity. Judging from the pricing strategy of the iPhone, that is, every 128GB of additional capacity on the iPhone will increase by $100, which has far exceeded the cost price of the memory chip.

Liang Zhenpeng, a senior industrial economic observer, told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that the excess price is an important source of Apple's high profits and a manifestation of its brand premium, but as the memory market becomes more and more transparent, mobile phone companies have less and less room to make a fuss about memory. In addition, for Apple, the poor sales of the iPhone have also prompted it to give up some of its brand premiums.

The cost performance lags behind peers

Observing the domestic mobile phone market, it is not difficult to see that 1TB mobile phones are becoming more and more popular, and if Apple does not make changes, it may be difficult for consumers to pay.

For example, as early as the beginning of 2023, mid-range mobile phones led by OnePlus Ace Pro took the lead in bringing a 24GB+1TB ultra-large storage version, and subsequent manufacturers such as Redmi, Realme, OPPO, and iQOO have also launched ultra-large storage phones with high cost performance. For example, the 16G+1TB version of the Note 12 Turbo released by Redmi in the second half of 2023 has reached 1999 yuan after the price reduction, which is one of the cheapest 1TB mobile phones at present, and even compared with 12G+512G, it is only 200 yuan.

On the other hand, compared with the starting price, users need to add 5,000 yuan to buy the 1T version, which may not be in line with the tone of the domestic market.

Counterpoint Research data shows that in the first quarter of 2024, Apple's iPhone sales in China fell by 19%, the worst performance of the device in China since 2020. Apple's market share in China's smartphone market slipped to third place from the first place in the same period last year, while Vivo ranked first with a market share of 17.4%, Honor ranked second with a market share of 16.1%, and Huawei ranked fourth with a share of 15.5%.

In the opinion of experts, if the market news is true, although the iPhone 16 has given up the high premium on memory, it is still unclear how many consumers can be saved, after all, for the iPhone, the immediate problem is that it has fallen behind under the wave of AI, and the upcoming release of iOS 18 may be the key battle for Apple.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Tao Feng Wang Zhuli

·Related News·

Apple will launch new hardware products

On Tuesday (April 23), local time, Apple announced that it will hold an online special event on May 7, when new hardware products will be launched.

Apple has set the slogan of the event as "Let Loose" and the Chinese for "Let's Fly", and the event is scheduled for May 7 at 07:00 Pacific Time, that is, 22:00 Beijing time, and Apple's official website will broadcast a pre-recorded video of the launch event.

It is understood that the last time Apple held a spring conference was in March 2022, when it released Mac Studio and Studio Display, iPad Air and iPhone SE, as well as two new colors of iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro.

As for the event, analysis predicts that Apple will release a new iPad, as the invitation image shows the Apple Pencil, and the company's CEO Tim Cook also wrote on social media, "Pencil us in for May 7!" And comes with a pencil emoji.

When it comes to the Apple Pencil, it has been previously revealed that the third generation will bring a series of innovative features. According to 9to5Mac, a multi-snippet code was found in the beta version, and the Apple Pencil may support the new "squeeze gesture".

The new squeeze gesture allows users to quickly make some simple interactions, making it easier and more flexible for users to add content such as shapes, signatures, stickers, or text in a variety of actions, which is expected to further streamline workflows and improve creative efficiency.

In addition, Apple Pencil's partner, the new iPad, could also be unveiled at this spring launch, as it has been about 18 months since the last update. Earlier this month, well-known Apple whistleblower Gurman mentioned that the OLED screen already used in the iPhone will officially land on the iPad Pro product line.

Gurman points out that when the technology is used on iPads with larger screens, the display becomes even more amazing. Of course, this boost comes at a cost — the iPad Pro currently starts at $799, and the pricing of the new model is likely to increase.

As for the elements of artificial intelligence, Apple is more likely to announce it at the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, but the possibility of "warming up" at the spring conference cannot be completely ruled out.

Comprehensive report by Beijing Business Daily