The article mentions the iPhone SE and how its expected sales are not expected to offset the slowdown of the iPhone 6s and 6s+ sales. I realized I had forgotten the SE even existed (even though it was just been announced a few weeks ago) until this article reminded me of it.<p>To me, this is just further confirmation that Apple's product line is a complete mess. Just go to (apple.com/iphone/compare) or (apple.com/ipad/compare) and look at how ridiculous it is. Can anyone really tell me which one of those models is "best"? There is no clear winner -- the ones with the bigger screen sizes and storage capacity don't have the latest CPUs or other features. Anyone remember the simple "Good, Better, Best" models of Powerbooks?<p>It is starting to feel like Apple is overdue for a product line simplification, like when the four quadrant product grid was first introduced:<p><a href="https://youtu.be/VkVs4ZqWgN8" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/VkVs4ZqWgN8</a>
The two complaints I hear from "normal", non tech people.<p>1. The loss of carrier subsidy makes the price very high.<p>2. The iPhone 6 was carved out of slicked butter. I can name 10 people who have smashed one. I'm personally on my 3rd device. I <i>never</i> broke any mobile phone since 1996 until iPhone 6.
This is just an indication that there aren't any compelling breakthroughs in the smartphone arena right now. Customers seem to be satisfied with the current features that they have that they don't have the desire to buy the newest models.