Apple’s shareholders must not be too happy as of late. Apple’s shares value fell about 40% since September 2012 and it does not look like they will regain ground any time soon. At the same time, Apple registered a drop in profit for the first time in ten years. While it is difficult to determine the exact reasons why the perception of Apple as a company has somewhat diminished, there are some factors which have certainly contributed to this loss of trust.
While Apple sells various products like the iMac, MacBook, iPod, iPhone and iPad, the majority of profits Apple makes comes from the sale of iPhones. While the iPhone is still selling strongly, the truth remains that Apple is still losing customers to other smartphone manufacturers, in particular to Samsung.
Apple got a new life after releasing the first iPhone, which was an innovative product when it was released. So were the iPod and the iPad. However, the recent iPhone and iPad models did not really being anything new to the market. While the new models were faster and had more features when compared to the previous models, the new models were nothing else but upgrades that looked and felt very similar to the previous models. It is true that the iPhone 5 comes with a 4 inch screen which is half an inch bigger than that of the iPhone 4S. However this was not enough to stop many iPhone users to upgrade to Android phablets with 5 inch or greater screens.
The iPhone 5S will probably be launched in September, however the name indicates that it will only be an upgrade model. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, made it clear that customers will not be seeing Apple phablets and time soon. According to Cook, it is not possible to manufacture a phablet without reverting to certain trade-offs, like having lower quality screens and poorer battery life. But is that really the case? A five inch phablet like the Galaxy S4 does not suffer any of these trade-offs, so Cook’s reasoning is none other but any excuse for Apple’s failure to keep up with the competition.
