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by nounaut 2788 days ago
Stagnant implies it's not growing, not that it's not selling.
3 comments

Stagnant carries a connotation of some dark, oxygen-deprived mire that suffocates fish and smells horrible. It invokes images of death and decay. Not exactly the idea I had in mind when I hear of the sales numbers.
Not exactly the idea I had in mind when I hear of the sales numbers.

The global market size for mobile phones is still growing. If Apple's sales aren't growing at least in line with the size of the market then their market share is shrinking. Selling a lot in a stable market is great. Selling a lot in a growing market is ... less great.

Is Apple even looking to ship huge volumes of new units to emerging markets? An alternative strategy would be to preserve their cachet in order to preserve their cachet and remain an aspirational product.

Once your brand starts taking on the characteristics of a Veblen good, the rules start to work a bit differently. It hasn't, thus far, been a losing strategy for Mercedes Benz to not have a direct competitor to the Honda Civic.

What market are you talking about? Apple is only in the premium phone market.
Apple is only in the premium phone market.

I must have been talking about the premium phone market then, obviously.

Which premium mobiles are getting growing volume right now then?
Negative connotation, try telling your partner their attractiveness has stagnated if it has stayed the same.

A fairer way would be to state the iPhone sales have simply not grown.

Do you think Apple should be concerned about the lack of growth?

steady, level, imply the same thing but as a positive. I think it's just a matter of perspective whether Apple needs to grow its iPhone sales.

That said they must surely decline, the number of people who are going to continue to drop 1k+ on the new iPhone every few years is going to be limited by the resale value of last years phone, a market which (anecodtally) appears is droping precipitously.