Apple might be making a brilliant move

“Two of the three iPhones Apple launched in the fall of 2018, the pricier iPhone XS and XS Max, have displays that use organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology,” Ashraf Eassa writes for The Motley Fool. “The iPhone XR, the cheapest product in the company’s current lineup, uses a technology known as liquid crystal display (LCD).”
“LCDs are generally cheaper to build than OLED-based screens, since LCDs have been around much longer and there are more LCD suppliers, allowing smartphone makers like Apple to take advantage of a robust competitive environment,” Eassa writes. “The cost-effectiveness of LCDs is probably what drove Apple to choose the technology for the lowest-priced of its latest trio of iPhones.”
“According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, however, Apple is ‘likely’ to move away from LCD technology in the iPhones it intends to release in 2020,” Eassa writes. “By moving its entire lineup to OLED screens, Apple can market higher display resolutions across the board and also tout the advantages associated with OLED technology. Considering the tough time Apple is having in its current iPhone product cycle, anything to boost the appeal of its future devices would be welcome.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s not the display types that are the issue, it’s the lengthening replacement cycle that’s normal for a mature product.
iPhone XR sports a very fine Reina display and the vast majority of XR buyers have no idea what type of display it has nor do they care. — MacDailyNews, January 24, 2019
Again, units don’t matter. There are only so many quality users on the planet. Keeping them happy, as every measure of customer satisfaction shows Apple has amazingly well done to date, is what matters. As long as the users buy apps on the App Store, subscribe to Apple Music, add iCloud storage, use Apple Pay, etc., they can replace their hardware with Apple hardware at their own pace.
iPhone has higher customer satisfaction than Android, meaning that Apple gains iPhone users from Android via normal churn as users graduate to real iPhones. — MacDailyNews, January 21, 2019
Yes, the iPhone replacement cycle is lengthening, but with so many iPhone (and iPad) users and with customer satisfaction so high, it really doesn’t matter. The market is mature and there are only so many quality users on the planet. Apple has that market cornered. The types of people who’ve settled for Android aren’t likely to buy as many apps or subscribe to services. They want free. They’re not worth much after the sale. The iPhone knockoff peddlers like Samsung can have them.
This is, of course, Apple’s point with ceasing the reporting of unit sales. It’s the user base, the quality of the user base, and services that matter more now. That’s where the growth is and where it will be for many, many years to come. — MacDailyNews, January 5, 2019
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s 2020 iPhone lineup should pack quite a punch – January 24, 2019
Apple reportedly to move all new iPhones to OLED next year – January 22, 2019