FollowApple’s days at the top of the smartphone market may be over,with rumors spreading quickly through the technology world that the demand for IPhone 5 has been lower than expected and Apple has been stranded with an excess inventory to deal with.
Evidence for these rumors comes from the fact that Apple has canceled orders for LCD screens from its suppliers in Japan and South Korea,since the sales of the IPhone 5 have been more lackluster than they hoped it would be.
In September, when the IPhone 5 was launched, the euphoria of the introduction of the latest in the IPhone series caused the shares to skyrocket to a price of $702.10,which was an all time high for the company.However, soon after Apple sales of the IPhone 5 began to disappoint and the shares dipped lower than $500 this week, going as low as $491.5.
Increasing competition from Nokia, Samsung, HTC and LG in the smartphone market has resulted in this,since sales have shown that the iOS now accounts for only 2 of the 10 smartphones being sold in this quarter of the year.The other 8 slots are solidly Android dominated and companies like Samsung and Nokia have produced solid products that have not just caught up to the IPhone, but surpassed it in some categories.
Even in the tablet market, Apple’s share of sales fell by 3 percentage points to 53% since the release of several strong tablet products by the same companies.Analysts predict that when Apple releases its first fiscal quarter earnings this January 23,there will be a decline in their earnings from last year, possibly a drop of 4-5%.Apple has not reported a drop in earnings for the last 9 years, so this will be a change in the tide indeed for the technological giant.
