This week, Apple reduced iPhone production by 20% by 2021, but it was the iPhone 12 Mini that took over the weight of the reduced numbers. The order book decreases by about 70%. Given that the new iPhone phones are expected to remain around 75 million years from year to year, has the iPhone 12 Mini failed?
In terms of raw numbers, yes, but in a way it could be the most successful failure that Apple has seen
Apple iPhone 12 Mini from Apple’s flagship store during a product launch event in Sydney, … [+]
© 2020 Bloomberg Finance LP
First, the fact that Apple is reducing production on the iPhone 12 Mini is a good sign that it has not met Cupertino’s expectations. Clearly there will be an impact on sales of COVID-19 not only to Apple, but to the entire industry. Apple’s reduction in orders specifically targeted the mini.
It does not cancel the production of the mini, so there is clearly a demand for the smaller smartphone with the latest specifications, but it is clear that Apple has overestimated the level of demand. With the launch in September, Apple has seen trends in the summer sales of its smartphones, tablets and desktops, but long delivery times in an upset world have probably darkened the issue.
With Apple’s unusual reading of other areas, such as older iPhones and M1-powered Macs, the iPhone 12 Mini’s call volume feels inexplicable.
Maybe the idea of a “small” iPhone can’t be kept in isolation. The iPhone 12 Mini was not the phone that unlocked the demand for a smaller iPhone, to bring the crowd to Apple stores (online) to meet their demand. It belonged to the second version of the iPhone SE launched in April 2021. Promising the same power and specifications as the current iPhone 11, any of Apple’s geekeratics waiting for the small but powerful update, jumped on the SE.
What market is left for the iPhone 12 Mini? The iPhone SE took it out of the “cheapest modern iPhone” space. And above the iPhone 12 Mini is the iPhone 12, with a slightly larger screen, better battery capacity and a more traditional size of the receiver (at least traditionally returning to the iPhone X). With only $ 100 difference between the Mini and the regular 12, the Mini was squeezed down and out of the top.
Apple has long had a very small portfolio of iPhone devices. By the end of 2020, there were five phones that were in the “new”, along with contested phones from previous years. At some point, any portfolio will reach saturation point. The iPhone 12 mini seems to be that point.
Apple is a very conservative company. It focuses on making the basics very well, ensures the operation of the hardware and software as easily as possible and waits for the cutting-edge technology to mature before throwing a little branding cliché on top to give it a special coat of paint. which only Apple can sell.
In this sense, the iPhone 12 mini could be seen as Apple’s biggest success. He showed Apple exactly where the edge of the small phone envelope was, reached every customer who wanted this size, and allowed Apple to calibrate iPhone 13 orders as the world reached a normal level later this year.
It may be a failure, but it is one of the best failures that Apple could have in its books.
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