Weak demand leads Apple to halve iPhone 5 component orders

[ryryryan]

I'm one of those who used an iPhone 4 for 2 years, very much enjoyed it but couldn't really justify spending x amount of money for the latest one when it barely felt like an upgrade. So instead of going for the 5, I went the S3 way.

Will never look back, especially with the screen size. The 5 is better than previous iPhones, but it still seems too small compared to what I now use.

Obviously each to their own. Like I said, I enjoyed my iPhone 4 for a few years. It's a shame it doesn't seem to be evolving much from that though. I could imagine a slow decrease in sales some years down the line if things don't change.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I'm one of those who used an iPhone 4 for 2 years, very much enjoyed it but couldn't really justify spending x amount of money for the latest one when it barely felt like an upgrade. So instead of going for the 5, I went the S3 way.

Will never look back, especially with the screen size. The 5 is better than previous iPhones, but it still seems too small compared to what I now use.

Obviously each to their own. Like I said, I enjoyed my iPhone 4 for a few years. It's a shame it doesn't seem to be evolving much from that though. I could imagine a slow decrease in sales some years down the line if things don't change.

Took the words right out of my mouth !

 

[Type_R]

First of all - I don't know how you can't call the iPhone 4S to the iPhone 5 a significant hardware upgrade on a previous generation. Twice as fast, both CPU and GPU. 1/3rd thinner and lighter. Sounds like a pretty good upgrade from my iPhone 3GS to be honest. It's not like, by Apple releasing a new model, all your old stuff instantly stopped working. iPhones and iPads are the new computing platform. Would you buy a new Macbook Pro or an iMac every 6 or 12 months?

I went from a 4 to a 5 and noticed an immediate difference and increase in speed, especially in games. You going from a 3GS will notice it much more! However the wife has a 4S and putting them side to side, I personally would not upgrade from a 4S to a 5, because its just not worth it.

Also my iPhone 5's screen died within a month of owning it. The new replacement Apple gave me has serious connectivity issues. So they are dropping the ball in the quality of products too.

Finally, for those complaining about the new connector...

Which is all good and well. But changing the connector so you make more money out of your customers is not something we have come to expect of Apple. As I pointed out earlier, on the iPad at least, the internal dimensions of the lightening connector have not changed, so its change for the sake of change, nothing else = more money. Then the lightening connector is made such that 3rd party's cannot replicate it easily (internal microprocessor etc). So £25 every time you want to hook up an old accessory or a new cable.

All in all greed is taking over, which usually signals a downfall for the customer, whichever way you look at it.

 

[Nismo]

As I pointed out earlier, on the iPad at least, the internal dimensions of the lightening connector have not changed, so its change for the sake of change, nothing else = more money.

But as they had already started using it on the new iPod and iPhone, why continue to use the old connector on the new iPad? Surely it's common sense that from the point that the first product used Lightning, everything that follows would too?

A mixture of connectors in new products gives more to moan about that a consistent new standard for everything.

 

[ShortWarning]

If the reports are true I hope this gives Apple the kick up the backside they need.

As others have said, they're not producing for the customer any more, it's all about the shareholders.

The 4s was (and still is) my first Apple phone. I like it a lot, it's a great little phone. I was excited about the 5 and had my money ready to splash on it but it just wasn't worth it over the 4s. Now I know there's only so much they can change a phone from year to year but I think most people can agree it was disappointing.

I am going to hold out for the next iphone before upgrading but if the S4 rumours are anything to go by Apple with have to pull a few tricks out of the bag to keep me as a customer.

 

[JonB]

I went from a 4 to a 5 and noticed an immediate difference and increase in speed, especially in games. You going from a 3GS will notice it much more! However the wife has a 4S and putting them side to side, I personally would not upgrade from a 4S to a 5, because its just not worth it.

Just because you can't notice it in day to day, doesn't mean it's not there. They wouldn't expect you to upgrade from a 4S to a 5. Maybe you weren't using apps that required the extra power. (Many CAD/Video apps and Games will eat this extra cpu up). Thats a good thing; that they've made substantial improvements to the os in iOS6 and yet not reduced the overall speed of the device noticeably. Expect many more years using the 4S happily.

Which is all good and well. But changing the connector so you make more money out of your customers is not something we have come to expect of Apple. As I pointed out earlier, on the iPad at least, the internal dimensions of the lightening connector have not changed, so its change for the sake of change, nothing else = more money. Then the lightening connector is made such that 3rd party's cannot replicate it easily (internal microprocessor etc). So £25 every time you want to hook up an old accessory or a new cable.

All in all greed is taking over, which usually signals a downfall for the customer, whichever way you look at it.

The connector wasn't the only thing that changed in the new iPad. It was a brand new iPad, with double the CPU and double the GPU power. If they're releasing a new iPad why stick with the old connector? The connector internals (on the iPad) are the same size as the old connector is irrelevant, it could have been for structural reasons for all we know.

They haven't changed for changing sake, thats the point. The 30-pin was around for 10 years, thats a bloody long time in tech. They've changed connector because it's a vastly superior connector to what they have, and they made sure they waited (10 years!) until they had something that was far superior, so they don't get accused of exactly what you're accusing them of.

• Its Reversible
• Doesn't have pins (no doubt a serious point of failure and cause for repair, this is the best thing about the new adapter)
• It's digitally secure (the chip auth, used for protecting content I bet, just like HDCP)
• It's much thinner. Look at the iPhone 5, or the iPad Mini. The internals have to be able to be much thinner to support devices that thin.They might just not be on the iPad because they don't need to be (yet).

And it seems to me that 3rd parts have done just fine replicating it...http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-5...in-adapters-for-iphone-5-land-on-amazon-ebay/. Sure this may be a rough transition, but in 5 years time when your iPhone 10 is still using the same adapter the people will be happy.

I wonder if you will be able to use your Galaxy S3 speaker dock with your Galaxy S8...

 

[Glaucus]

People keep saying iOS is stale in comparison to Android but what else do they want from it? I've used Jelly Bean on a tablet and it is just ghastly. GHASTLY.

Live tiles/widgets
Get rid of their stupid tethering restrictions.
Let me use cloud services and not lock down file system so I can't do anything.
Let me use peripherals, android and wp8 have USB with pretty much what ever you want.
On iPad 16:9 screen it is a media device and when watching tv/film you waste half the screen.

This are the main ones, but loads more little niggles.
iOS is stale, it's not even small increments it just hasn't changed the UI at all.
We've just had a few new features added.

My other biggest gripe is stability. Every new version gets less stable, especially safari on both iPhone and iPad, even after factory reset.

 

[Nismo]

On iPad 16:9 screen it is a media device and when watching tv/film you waste half the screen.

I'd rather it have the 4:3 ratio so that browsing is a more pleasurable experience and there is more app space, and compromise slightly on video. The 16:9 narrowness of something like a Nexus 7 makes it awful for looking at websites.

My other biggest gripe is stability. Every new version gets less stable, especially safari on both iPhone and iPad, even after factory reset.

Really

Never had any stability issues on anything from iOS 3 upwards using various model iPhones and iPads, and Safari in particular in the latest versions is immense, very very quick for a mobile browser.

If iOS is "stale", then pass me that out of date bread. It's still better IMO than Android which is stupidly overcomplicated, and takes forever to configure to any sort of satisfactory level. I had an S3 for just over a month before I got fed up with it as I could never get the thing to work exactly how I liked, there was always some niggle. I always think back when I owned it to the S3 thread on these very forums. It was always people saying that they were waiting for Jellybean to get released, or a new ROM has come out which they were flashing to (and back again). Nobody ever seemed satisfied with the phone as it was, forever tinker tinker tinker.

 

[Glaucus]

For a start a tablet should not be 7", 10" min, which over comes any issues with webpages.

And yes, stability is hardly a surprise, go look at 4,5,6 release threads, loads of us complaining about safari, general stability.

Android is no longer the only option either. Windows is by far the nicest UI and isn't locked down in stupid ways, for me that outweighs the downside of it being new both in terms of Eco system and a few features.

 

[Robbo]

Safari works flawlessly on my iPhone (4, 4S & 5) and iPad (2, 3 & 4). What problems have you had with it?

In fact I've always found iOS to be far more stable than Android.

 

[Glaucus]

Safari works flawlessly on my iPhone (4, 4S & 5) and iPad (2, 3 & 4). What problems have you had with it?

Crashing a fair bit, as has many other people. On both iPhone 4 running ios5.1 and ipad2 running 6.0.1 all, all though its been present on all versions, getting worse with each version.

 

[Robbo]

Crashing a fair bit, as has many other people. On both iPhone 4 running ios5.1 and ipad2 running 6.0.1 all, all though its been present on all versions, getting worse with each version.

That's odd, it has literally never crashed for me. On the other hand the stock Samsung browser on the GS3 crashed several times a week (at least).

I've not had an issue with Windows Phone crashing either though, they just need to fix the app store but that'll take some more time.

It was always people saying that they were waiting for Jellybean to get released, or a new ROM has come out which they were flashing to (and back again). Nobody ever seemed satisfied with the phone as it was, forever tinker tinker tinker.

That's a very true observation. I think a lot of people, especially on here, tend to tinker with things for the sake of it. I've done it myself and generally never got anything good out of it; it was just a waste of time.

You can always reel off a list of the shortcomings of iOS (it isn't short of them), but when you get down to it, it's the most stable and has the best app selection and general quality by quite a notable margin, even now. If you're happy with the way it works, you can't beat it.

Android's main strength can also be its main weakness, I've lost track of the amount of times people on here have had battery trouble (or similar) due to rogue software; and these are 'tech savvy' people - not your average folk.

That isn't to say one is better than the other, there are situations for me at least where I'd rather have Android than iOS and vice-versa, but overall I'm going to keep with the latter for the time being.

 

[Glaucus]

I wouldn't say it's the most stable, wp is more stable, iOS does win on App Store.
But like everything it depends what apps you want, and none of the ones I use our missing on any off them now.

Come on robo, you must have read the release threads where many of us complain, there even loads of threads on apples community support forum about crashing, and yet no fix. Some of them are massive
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2460899?start=1125&tstart=0

It really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone on this forum, who's read the release threads.

 

[Nismo]

For a start a tablet should not be 7", 10" min, which over comes any issues with webpages.

10" minimum for a tablet?

I think a lot of people are pretty much agreed the iPad mini's size is perfect, and I wouldn't want anything bigger (or heavier) than a full-sized iPad.

The Safari crashing issue over multiple iOS releases is news to me as well, I've never had an issue from iPhones 4 and 5, and iPads 1, 3 and mini.

TBH I personally wouldn't currently consider a Windows phone, even if the OS was the best, as I can't see any evidence that the app's for it are anywhere near the level of those for iOS. Different timescales of availability admittedly, but I don't think anything will touch the App Store anytime soon.

 

[Robbo]

This is the first I've heard about Safari crashing regularly. As I said it's always been fine for me; which is why I'm surprised!

 

[shine]

I've had no issues with Safari on either my iPhone or iPad. In fact coming from Android I've found iOS to be far more stable and I'm really pleased.

Reading Glaucus's list of gripes I have to say I prefer the iPad in its current form.

 

[theheyes]

Safari not so much but iOS6 in general has been like a poison pill for my iPad3. Touch response just seems iffy in places (like the toggle switches) and persistent WiFi problems - all appeared after upgrading from iOS5.

I really do wish I'd never bothered because I didn't want Apple maps either.

 

[Av8]

The 5 has brought little except that bit of extra screen.

Don't forget the mic on the back for background noise reduction, loads of people rushed out the buy the 5 cos of this and extra bit of screen. Not !!!

 

[Robbo]

The 5 is an excellent upgrade. Significantly improved battery life over the 4S and the screen being bigger - which is a fairly notable difference, 3.5" is a bit of a joke now. The speed improvements are smaller but they are there.

The iPhone 4 > 4S was less of an upgrade really (well, it was camera instead of screen).

 

[Totality]

The Android OS has come on in leaps and bounds recently. I've tried every iteration of Android since 2.0 and Jelly Bean was the first time I actually kept the device. Ultimately it was let down by the standard poor quality of Android hardware and the speakers broke an it suffered from bad backlight bleeding.

The apps on Android are also poor compared to iOS versions and run badly. I couldn't find a good PDF app to compare to Goodreader and the browsers were all laggy.

If Android keeps developing at the rate it is, however, I will be very interested to see what the next iterations bring to the table. Give me proper lock screen notifications and a non-geeky theme out of the box and better quality hardware and Ill be sold.

If iOS doesn't develop and stays as it is for another 12-24 months I can see trouble ahead for Apple given how good Jelly Bean is compared to the older versions of Android. In another year it could be perfect!