Apple adjusts its product line layout: selling 4 iPhone models at the same time

The release of iPhone 6 has made headlines in major media. In addition to the configuration and price released by Apple, do you know more? Apple's iPhone product line system is closely related to price, but the layout is different from other mobile phones.

1. Before the arrival of iPhone 6, there were three models of Apple iPhone on sale in the Chinese market, with a price difference of about 1,000 yuan and a sales cycle of 3 years.

It is generally believed that the difference between Samsung and Apple's product lines is that Samsung's products cover multiple price ranges, and its feature is breadth; Apple only launches one or two mobile phone products each year, and its feature is refinement. The actual situation is not like this.

Since China Unicom introduced iPhone 3GS in 2009, the sales cycle of each product has been about 3 years.

Since 2011, three models of Apple phones have been sold in the Chinese market at the same time.

Every time a new product is released (or after a period of time), Apple will adjust the prices of previous versions according to market conditions. Basically, a product line layout has been formed with a price difference of about 1,000 yuan between each version. Before the iPhone 6 was launched, the official price of the iPhone 5S was 5,288 yuan, the average price of the iPhone 5C was 4,288 yuan, and the iPhone 4S was 3,288 yuan. In the three months before the iPhone 6 was launched, the prices of the three products continued to drop. At the same time as the iPhone 6 was released, the prices of the products currently on sale were also adjusted.

Note: The above price comparison ignores the different memory specifications in each version and the different customized prices of different operators.

Second, after iPhone 5, two products were released each time, which not only replaced unsatisfactory products but also further explored the price layout.

Careful readers will find out why iPhone 5 is not included in the above prices?

iPhone 5 was released in September 2012 and stopped selling in September 2013. Its sales cycle was only one year, making it the shortest-lived iPhone in the iPhone family. Why is this so? Compared with iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 does not have much innovation in terms of product. The only thing worth mentioning is that Cook did not insist on the 3.5-inch screen proposed by Jobs, but upgraded it to 4 inches. From the beginning, the iPhone 5 market was frequently criticized, and it did not meet the expectations of Apple and investors, and nearly half of the demand for component orders was cut.

In this context, the iPhone 5c came up with a price-filling feature. When the iPhone 5c was launched, the 16G version was priced at 4,488 yuan, and the 8G version was priced at 4,088 yuan, with an average price of 4,288 yuan, which should have been the price of the iPhone 5 one year after it was sold. The iPhone 5c had a clear positioning, but it still did not receive good reviews from the market, with orders canceled many times and even large-scale price cuts for promotions. The poor sales of the two products in the mainstream price segment also made Apple rethink its pricing strategy and the urgency of product innovation.

3. Starting with iPhone 6, Apple adjusted the number of products on sale at the same time from 3 to 4, which reflects its recognition of the product sales life cycle.

Apple did rethink its pricing strategy, and it was eventually reflected in its product line, with two versions of the iPhone 6 launched simultaneously, and there are currently four products on the market.

Although Apple is shifting from selling three mobile phones at the same time to selling four models, the iPhone 6plus and iPhone 5C are both Apple's upward and downward explorations in multi-price segment layout. They are not currently in the main price segment and there is little expectation for volume. They are only used to cover the corresponding user groups.

In the future, Apple may operate four products at the same time. For example, two versions of iPhone 7 will be released at the same time. At that time, the two versions of iPhone 6 will be reduced in price, and iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C will be discontinued. In this way, Apple will adjust the product sales cycle from 3 years to 2 years. The reason for this, I think, is recognition of the law of product life cycle.

On the one hand, with the acceleration of technological iteration, the R&D cycle of various components is constantly shortening, and the product update cycle is also shortening at the same time. The competitiveness of a single product is not enough to support a longer period of time.

On the other hand, as product prices drop and user consumption levels increase, the replacement cycle is shortening. As for the replacement cycle, no research company has released continuous data on it, and we can only see some trends from some sporadic research.

1. In April 2012, Ericsson released the "2011 China Urban Communication Behavior Research Report", pointing out that the replacement cycle of Chinese smartphone users in 2011 was 29 months.

2. In September 2012, China Mobile President Li Yue pointed out in his speech that according to China Mobile's statistics, the mobile user replacement cycle is 22-23 months.

3. In July 2014, 360 released the "Used Mobile Phone Recycling Value Research Report", pointing out that the user's mobile phone replacement cycle has been shortened to 18 months.

The above pricing strategies are all Apple's official prices for bare metal phones. The idea is the same for contract phone prices, which are relatively transparent and will not be introduced here. What is not transparent is the price of iPhone in social channels, which reflects Apple's inability to control prices or its indifference to them.

iPhone 6 has an official price, and I believe consumers will be able to buy the product at this price in Apple stores and carrier channels. However, this may not be the case in other social channels, where both high and low prices can appear. In addition to knockoff products, there are three reasons for the price problem:

First, under the background of hunger marketing, channel dealers are selling high prices. According to the Legal Evening News, some sellers are offering a high price of 28,000 yuan for the iPhone 6. This is related to Apple's supply strategy in various channels. For channels with low sales in the early stage, the supply of new products is also small. Scarcity makes things valuable. Under the background of Apple creating shortages through "hunger marketing", channel dealers take the opportunity to sell high prices to gain more profit margins. Of course, under normal circumstances, the price will be higher than the official price by less than 1,000 yuan, mainly for those consumers who are not sensitive to prices.

Second, scalpers conduct secondary sales, raising channel costs. This does not need to be explained in detail. The products purchased must include the cost of scalpers' operations and the profits they want to make.

Third, maliciously unpacking customized phones from operators, or selling parallel-imported phones at prices lower than the official price. Customized phones sold by operators are mostly in the form of contracts, that is, if you commit to a certain amount of consumption every month, you can get a customized phone for free or at a discount. Some consumers (or professional dismantling arbitrageurs) purchase packages because of reasons such as reimbursement of phone bills, and resell the bare phones at a price lower than the official price. Parallel imports are smuggled versions that have not paid taxes. There is no tax cost, so the price can be lowered. The difference is that there is no after-sales service guarantee.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.