Skip to footer

Little change expected with iPhone 7. Has finally Apple plateaued?

The new iPhone 7 might reflect saturation in developed countries' markets, and a push to gain territory in India and China.

|
Damir Sagolj/Reuters/File
A man takes pictures as Apple iPhone as 6s and 6s Plus go on sale at an Apple Store in Beijing in September 2015. There will be few feature changes when Apple launches the iPhone 7 this fall.
  • By David Iaconangelo Staff

For 13 years, Apple grew and grew, buoyed by a string of innovations. Now, amid signs that it may have saturated the market in developed countries, the company may be relaxing its pursuit of technological variety in favor of a new focus on emerging markets.

On the heels of its first-ever decline in quarterly revenue, the company is set to introduce an iPhone 7 this fall that closely resembles the previous model. While the headphone plug may not appear on the iPhone 7 – with the Lightning connector taking its place as the port for both charging and connecting headphones – the display size will be the same, and the phone will likely be only a millimeter thinner, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The absence of changes may seem puzzling given Apple's habit of revamping iPhones every two years, especially with iPhone sales slumping 16 percent in the past quarter. 

While other mobile phone companies work to entice customers to stay on their mobile plans with new designs or features, Apple "marches to the beat of a different drummer," Horace Dediu, founder of mobile-industry analysis firm Asymco, told The Wall Street Journal.

One recent change appears to reflect the challenges involved in the company's shift toward emerging markets. The new four-inch iPhone SE is considerably smaller than the 6 and the 6 Plus. But the size appears to conflict with preferences in China, Apple's second-largest market and perhaps its best opportunity for growth, where consumers prefer larger phones, as The Christian Science Monitor reported in April:

Tech analysts suggest different reasons for the Chinese preference for a larger phone, but some conclude that larger phones make it easier to draw Chinese characters and they may also prefer larger phones for video purposes, because the smartphone is likely the only computing device owned by a Chinese customer.

Apple is also aiming to make headway in India, where the smartphone market is expected to grow 23 percent annually through 2018. Apple sales accounted for just 2 percent of the country's overall market, largely because prices are simply too high for most Indians, as the Monitor reported:

Establishing itself as a retailer in India would increase Apple's brand presence and enable Apple to sell its phones directly to its customers. Specifically, selling refurbished phones would help the company tap into the lower-budget market. With this move, analysts say, Apple will be able to establish itself in India while the market is growing quickly as sales for the iPhone stagnate in the US and China. But India's ultimate goal is to see Apple products made locally.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Little change expected with iPhone 7. Has finally Apple plateaued?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2016/0622/Little-change-expected-with-iPhone-7.-Has-finally-Apple-plateaued
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe