Apple Plans To Discontinue iPhone X End Of This Year, Here Is Why

Apple is set to discontinue the iPhone X this year, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. But don’t worry, for as bad as that sounds, things are thankfully not quite as dire as they may first seem.

According to Kuo, Apple will indeed discontinue the iPhone X later this year, but not before its replacement is made available. While Apple would normally reduce the price of existing iPhone hardware and keep it around for a number of years, that is not likely to be the case, according to Kuo, with the iPhone X that we have today being a one-year only affair. The reasons come down to Apple’s rejigging of its iPhone lineup once more, with 2018 seeing the arrival of new screen sizes that would potentially be left vulnerable by a less costly iPhone X.

If, as you may expect, Apple reduced the iPhone X to the $899 price point later this year, Kuo believes that there would be the possibility of such an offering being in a position of cannibalizing sales of the new mid-range 6.1-inch iPhone with Face ID that is expected to launch around the same time as the iPhone X’s successor. That phone is believed to have a price point of between $650 and $750, leaving it worryingly close to a potential $899 iPhone X. Kuo does not expect Apple to make that mistake.

iPhone X would hurt product brand value & lineup of 2H18 new models if it continues to sell at a lower price after 2H18 new models launch:Lowering iPhone X’s price after the 2H18 new models launch would be a negative to product brand value given 3D sensing and OLED display are features of the new high-price model. Additionally, to sell iPhone X at a lower price may have a negative impact on shipments of the new 6.1″ LCD iPhone in 2H18. Thus, we estimate iPhone X will reach end-of-life (EOL) around the middle of 2018.

iPhone X Plus concept by Martin Hajek

If things do pan out as Kuo believes, we could see the 2018 lineup consist of a new 5.9-inch iPhone X at the high end, a large 6.5-inch iPhone X Plus sitting just above it and then a mid-range 6.1-inch iPhone below it. The rest of the lineup would presumably include re-priced iPhone 8 and iPhone 7 models with the iPhone SE at the very bottom of the food chain.

(Via: MacRumors)

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