Gene Munster, Managing Director, Piper Jaffray
I don’t know whether I should be happy, sad or skeptical on this one. Munster is pretty reliable with product speculation, but this seems so outside the norm for Apple. I’ve never known the iMaker to produce anything cheap or inexpensive. Will this imply slimmer margins or just a rehash of old, existing products? Or will there be cheap versions of the iPhone with spartan capabilities.
All those options don’t seem appealing to me, nor to any true Apple enthusiast. Maybe to a short-sighted, uninformed investor who doesn’t give a shit about the Apple way, only the bottom line.
A low-cost iPhone could see unit sales of 75 million in 2014, projects Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
In an investors note released today, Munster said he expects Apple to sell a $300 non-subsidized iPhone starting in September. Such a device is likely to trigger a 30 percent cannibalization rate, which means that for every three low-cost iPhones sold, one full-price iPhone is cannibalized.
As such, Apple’s share of the high-end smartphone market may dip to 37 percent next year from 43 percent last year. But its share of the low-end (under $400) market will rise to 11 percent in 2014 from nothing in 2012.
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