Has the bubble burst? Is the dream over? Is it time to throw away those Apple shares?
Well, probably not.
But there is intense speculation that year-on-year iPhone sales are about the fall for the first time ever. iPhone case manufacturer Jabil Circuit has issued an unexpectedly low revenue forecast for this quarter and analysts at Bank of America, Raymond James, Baird Equity Research and Morgan Stanley - ie. those paid to know about these things - have cut estimates for iPhone shipments. The investment bank Needham has said it expects a fall of as much as 5 per cent in the fiscal year ending September.
Apple shares fell by 1.4% yesterday in reaction - but it's not exactly a disaster, as they'll still be shipping around 220 million units this year.
What could be the reason? Market saturation? The wrong models? Stronger competition? Probably a mix of all of them.
The company are reportedly sufficiently spooked to be considering breaking with their tried-and-tested launch time and announcing a brand new model early next year - the iPhone 6C, which would be a 4-inch version of the 6S, as previously reported here. They're also considering the classic business move of simply cutting prices - how novel!
So don't panic. Yet.
[via Gizmodo]
(Image: Shutterstock)
