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Home > The Daily Tech Tonic > ‘END OF LIFE’ for the IPhone X: What the heck?!


The crown prince of Apple, the IPhone X might not see its first birthday. Yes, if the reports are to be believed, the IPhone X might get dethroned  this summer and buried  for ever. Well, all we can say is RIP!!

The Apple IPhone X

So here’s what happened:

Apple analyst Ming Chi Kuo, the most credible source of information when it comes to Apple, with an unblemished track record of successful information leaks made a huge claim on the 19th of January. His company KGI Securities has reported that the IPhone X is going to be cancelled by this summer and if it happens, it will be the first time Apple has cancelled a phone before releasing the new generation device, rather than reducing the cost.

Ming chi Kuo, in his research note has cited two specific reasons for this move by Apple, and the first is quite a shocker. According to his findings there is a lack of demand for IPhone X. In Q4 of 2017, consumers were willing to wait for an average of 24 months before upgrading to the new phone compared to a wait time of 12 months in Q4 2016. These numbers are reflected in the sales record of Apple, which isn’t yet public.

The second reason, is the love for big screens in China. Consumers in China have always been attracted to big screens and according to surveys, the population of China believes that the notch is a waste of space. The IPhone X effectively offers less usable screen compared to other IPhone Plus models. As a result of the notch, most of the popular Chinese apps are still not compatible with the new design.

What does ‘cancelling’ a phone mean?

It doesn’t mean IPhone X is suddenly going off the shelves. There are still a lot of pre orders and retailers all across the world have millions of units of the IPhone X in their stores. What it means is, Apple will stop the assembly line or the production of IPhone X much sooner than expected. As a comparison, Apple still continues to manufacture IPhone 6 SE. Ming Chi Kuo has claimed that the IPhone X will be replaced by a trio of IPhone models in 2018, with a IPhone X plus model addressing the concerns of a smaller usable screen.

Image released by KGI Securities: The footprint of 2018 version of IPhone X

But that’s not the end of story!!

48 hours later to this report, Ming Chi Kuo in a rather defensive post to clients appeared to backtrack from his earlier claims. This time he went on to say that the IPhone X is a strategic success for Apple. With its innovative depth sensing camera and Face ID, Apple has a 2 year lead over other smartphone rivals. It also stated that sales were strong for Apple in Q4 of 2017. So the question is: What changed suddenly?

There could be many probable reasons for this backtrack, the earlier information obtained by KGI Securities could be a hoax or maybe something else would have changed in those 48 hours.

Technovortex Opinion

The IPhone X is certainly a great phone. With the Face ID and true to colors camera, it certainly has won many hearts. Even the notch has been a hit in many parts of the world. Even with all this, the price tag is not justified in our opinion. With budget flagship phones getting better every day, people are slowly moving towards more cost efficient options. But that isn’t going to change anything for Apple, the next flagship is still gonna cost more than IPhone X and Apple is completely satisfied with a premium price tag.

As far as the leaks are concerned, they are still rumours and must be taken with a grain of salt. The backtrack has certainly raised questions on the credibility of the report. Well, even the most prolific of information leakers can be wrong at times.

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