UBS sees iPhone purchase intent at five-year low

“UBS maintains a Buy rating on Apple, but cuts the target from $225 to $210,” Brandy Betz reports for Seeking Alpha.
“Analyst Timothy Arcuri says iPhone purchase intention is ‘down across the board’ with particular weakness in the U.S. and China,” Betz reports. “The firm’s proprietary survey showed U.S. buying intent dropping to a five-year low, matching the iPhone 6S. Only 18% of respondents planned to buy a new iPhone in the next year, down from 21% last year and the 17% of October 2015.”
Betz reports, “The survey included 6,900 consumers across five countries and happened after the XS and XS Max were launched.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: So, what’s the margin of error on this survey? (crickets)
Also, 18% does not “match” the 17% from the iPhone 6s-era (2015) survey (which is 3 years ago, not 5). It’s one percentage point higher and given that the range being discussed here runs from 21% to 17%, that’s worth quite a bit. One percentage point of a four point range is worth 25%, in fact. Again, all of this could be in the margin of error, of course, which is not disclosed in this or any other report we can find.
Specious arguments based on nebulous data are useful tools for Apple shorts and other fomenters.
Lastly and oh by the way, just this past June, UBS analyst Steven Milunovich wrote in a note to clients that Apple is more than just iPhones. “We think the narrative is shifting from iPhone units to a consistent franchise with low single-digit hardware growth augmented by higher-margin, faster-growing services,” Milunovich wrote while raising his target price to $210 from $190.
What’s changed that’s worth $300+ billion in market value? Unit sales reporting and pretty much nothing else.
Now, can we please see this get talked down to below $170, pretty please?
Don’t get mad at the manipulators. Understand them, learn to recognize when their playbook goes into effect, and profit from their actions. — MacDailyNews, November 27, 2018
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AAPL is like a buoy. Quick, it’s back on the surface! You there, analyst, and you, too, swim down and tug on the chain! Drag it under… lower, lower… Good! Now, quick, everybody jump on, and we’ll take a ride back up to the top again! — MacDailyNews, January 9, 2012
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At the most basic level, it’s extremely simple: Pump, then dump. Foment, then buy. Rinse, lather, repeat as the SEC sleeps. — MacDailyNews, April 26, 2012
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Even if a particular data point were factual it would be impossible to accurately interpret the data point as to what it meant for our overall business… There is just an inordinate[ly] long list of things that would make any single data point not a great proxy for what’s going on. Apple CEO Tim Cook, January 23, 2013
SEE ALSO:
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