Why 2018 was the Worst Year for Apple

[killer4212]

Apple is one of the biggest smartphone companies in the world and they having been dominating the smartphone market for over 25 years. But in 2018, Apples sales have been falling drastically, which to me is quiet a surprise. The reason for this is Europe and USA are saturated markets. There is very less chance of boosting sales in USA and so Apple turned to China and India where there is a much greater chance of growth. China became the second largest economy in the world at lighting speed.

But the sales of iPhones in China weakened sharply during the three months ending in December. Apple lowered revenue guidance to $84 billion, down from the $89 billion to $93 billion it had previously projected. The company lowered gross margin to about 38 percent from between 38 percent and 38.5 percent.

China's economy itself isn't doing so well. Chinese stock markets showed that 2018 was the worst year for them in a decade. Apple's products are expensive and a weaker economy means fewer people buy them.

China also has the world's largest smartphone market and those numbers are increasing rapidly. That means the competition in smartphone markets is very intense and there are a lot of competitors. One emerging company is Huawei . Huawei's sales have been increasing so fast, it made more sales than Apple in 2018. Android phones manufactures are a lot in number in Asian markets and they provide fierce competition to Apple. They're definitely cheaper and they have much more features than an iPhone so Apple fails to keep up. Huawei is banned in USA because it's a Chinese company and US thinks they may use their smartphones to "spy" on them.

Now, let's talk about India. India is massive with a population of 1.22 billion. But the sales of Iphones dropped in the second year of 2018 in India. The reason for that is 50% of the population in India is below the poverty line. They can't afford an Iphone and that's where Android phones come in. The average money a person spends on a phone in India is 120$. They're not gonna spend a thousand dollars for that apple logo. No sir. That's why Apple decided to manufacture iPhones directly in India to cut down some costs. But they're still gonna be expensive for the local population.

I want to see what Apple does in 2019 to deal with their alarming fall in sales.

What about you?

[tartaarsaus]

A major reason for India is because India puts massive taxes on phones produced abroad to promote those firms moving manufacturing to India.

As a matter of fact, Foxconn is actually moving the production for iPhones for a significant part to India.

So, yes the Indians on average spend less, but it makes sense that Apple should sell much more in India in the coming years because the massive taxes will essentially be evaded

[monkeynutts]

I think the wow factor has lost momentum. They are not as interesting anymore, and way too expensive.

[kespethdude]

Maybe if they didn't remove the headphone jack and force that stupid tech that requires you to choose between head[phones and charging. One of the reason I will NEVER buy an iphone. Android for life.