Skip to main content

Will the iPhone 7 Be the Answer to Apple's Problems?

Ask Siri if iPhone 7 will be the answer to Apple's problems, and you're told that a visit to Apple's website should answer that question "and more".

If only it was that easy.

Apple's shares closed down 6.3 per cent at $97.82 on Wednesday, wiping off about $36 billion in market value, a day after the company reported its first-ever fall in smartphone sales, arousing talk of "peak iPhone".

For many analysts, the company's immediate future rests with iPhone 7, which Apple is expected to launch in September.

The iPhone 7 is expected to sport a new look with features such as waterproofing, wireless headphones and force touch as the home button.

But many wonder if that will be enough to entice users to dump their existing iPhones or switch from the Android-based phones that have come to dominate the smartphone market.

Apple usually launches new iPhones in September and sells the most devices in the December quarter.

Unit sales typically drop over the next few quarters, picking up after the next iPhone launch.

Along with the weaker-than-expected iPhone sales, Apple reported its first drop in revenue in a decade. Sales in China, the company's most important market after the United States, fell 26 percent.

Apple also forecast another disappointing quarter for sales.

The bad news overshadowed strong results from the company's growing service business and an increase in share buybacks.

As of Wednesday's close, nearly $200 billion has been wiped off the value of the world's most valuable listed company over the past year - almost the equivalent of the market cap of Wal-Mart Stores, the world's biggest retailer. The stock last closed below $100 in February.

Apple's disappointing results fit a recent pattern for tech companies. Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet came up short of expectations.

(With inputs from Reuters)

Popular posts from this blog

Flexible Camera Developed That Can Be Wrapped Around Objects

A team led by an Indian-origin professor at Columbia University has created a novel sheet camera that can be wrapped around everyday objects to capture images that cannot be taken with one or more conventional cameras. "Cameras today capture the world from essentially a single point in space. While the camera industry has made remarkable progress in shrinking the camera to a tiny device with ever increasing imaging quality, we are exploring a radically different approach to imaging," said Shree K Nayar, computer science professor at Columbia University. "We believe there are numerous applications for cameras that are large in format but very thin and highly flexible," added Nayar who graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, in 1984. Nayar's team designed and fabricated a flexible lens array that adapts its optical properties when the sheet camera is bent. This optical adaptation enables the device to produce high quality images over a wide ...

Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo back Apple in its fight over encryption with FBI

The nation's leading tech companies joined security experts, independent programmers and civil liberties advocates who filed court papers backing Apple in its fight with the FBI over an encrypted iPhone used by an extremist killer. Several law enforcement groups, meanwhile, filed briefs in support of federal authorities who are seeking Apple's help in hacking an encrypted iPhone used by Syed Farook, one of the San Bernardino mass shooters. These "friend of the court" briefs come in advance of a March 22 hearing in which Apple is asking U.S. Magistrate Sheri Pym to reverse an order requiring Apple to create a software program that overrides iPhone security features. That program would let authorities try to unlock Farook's phone by guessing its passcode; Apple says it would make all other iPhones more vulnerable to future attacks. Relatives of five people who were killed, along with one survivor of the December 2 attack, also filed a brief saying the FBI's ...

Samsung Galaxy S7: 5 Features That Stand Out

Klutzes of the world should rejoice Friday, as Samsung officially starts sales of its new water-resistant Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The phones, which the company first unveiled last month, are now widely available in all their dunkable glory. The latest two Samsung's high-end smartphones are supposed to be able to withstand submersion up to five feet for as long as 30 minutes. So you're in luck if you drop your phone in the drink - as long as you fish it out reasonably fast. Samsung provided me with a review unit of the Galaxy S7, a 5.1-inch smartphone. Once I opened the box, I duly dropped the high-performance, expensive phone into my sink while doing the dishes. Apart from the mild palpitations I gave myself, there was no damage at all. The phone's touchscreen didn't work under water, but it continued on without a hiccup and was unharmed and still working perfectly when I pulled it out. It was just as impressively zippy as ever and no worse for ...