The Apple iPhone 6 created a wave of excitement surrounding the device that sales rose to new highs during 2015 for the American tech company.
The launch of the Apple iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus was also met with equal excitement. However, the users seem to have been finding the current crop of iPhones as low on exciting features. This may be a reason behind the huge drop in sales figures according to a research done by TrendForce.
The number of shipments in the first quarter of 2016 are around 42 million iPhones. This represents a whopping 43% drop in sales for Apple. Backed by the iPhone 6 that had a large display bringing it in line with the Android phones, Apple was able to ship 55 million iPhones in the first quarter of 2015.
The iPhone 6S came a few months ago and it has been seen as a major revamp internally. Apple brought out features like 3-D touch and a new 12-megapixel rear camera to spice up things. However, they do not appear to have been enough to spice up sales figures. In line with the Apple design philosophy, one can expect major changes to the look of the device only in the upcoming Apple iPhone 7. This may have forced several users to think twice about updating to the new device.
One reason for the drop in sales maybe that a bulk of the buyers will have gone for the 24-month contract option with phone companies. The massive surge in the interest for the iPhone 6 would have been mostly through sales of phones on contracts. Those contracts will not expire until the iPhone 7 arrives on the scene.
There are rumors that the iPhone 7 could be a trendsetter by doing away with many of the common features expected in the smartphone. First and foremost, will be the headphone jack, which may be done away with in favor of Bluetooth earbuds. Doing away with this feature is expected to make the iPhone 7 even thinner while managing to have sufficient space for an even bigger battery. The iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6 struggle from mediocre battery life, whereas it is not an issue in the larger Plus models of the last two generations.
The slower sales have led to Apple’s market share dropping from 21% to 14.4%. The company just cannot wait for the launch of the new iPhone 7 in September.