Apple'S "Darkest Moment": Mobile Phone Sales Fell 77% In April Compared With The Same Period Last Year.

The impact of the global epidemic on Apple stores is continuing to ferment.

According to the report issued by market analysis agency KeyBanc Capital Markets, the Apple Corp's iPhone products sales in April dropped by 77% compared with the previous year, and the ratio fell by 56%.

From Apple Corp's earnings report, we can also get a glimpse of it. Apple Corp's early 2020 second quarter financial report released in early May showed that Apple Corp's net profit in the second quarter was $11 billion 249 million at the end of March, down 3% from the same period last year, and net revenue of 58 billion 313 million US dollars, up 1% over the same period last year. Among them, iPhone income fell 7% year-on-year.

Due to the uncertainty brought by the outbreak, Apple Corp did not give the next quarter's performance guidelines.

Apple sells offline offline

According to the 2020 second quarter report released by apple, the most serious epidemic in the Americas and Europe is still the main market of apple.

In the second quarter of 2020, net sales of Apple Corp products amounted to US $58 billion 313 million. Among them, the net sales in the Americas region were 25 billion 473 million US dollars, the same as the same period last year, and the share is as high as 43.7%. The net sales in Europe are 14 billion 294 million US dollars, up 9% from the same period last year, and the share is 24.5%. The net sales in Greater China area are 9 billion 455 million US dollars, down 7% from the same period last year, the share is 16.2%, and the net sales in Japan are 5 billion 206 million dollars, same as last year. Compared with a decrease of 6%, the share is 8.9%, while the rest of the Asia Pacific region has a net sales of 3 billion 885 million dollars, with a share of 6.7%.

Since February 1st, Apple Corp has shut down many offline stores to prevent the spread of the new crown. Therefore, the decline in iPhone sales was mainly due to the closure of Apple's global offline stores.

In February 1st, Apple's official website announced that based on recent public health and preventive considerations, all Apple Store in mainland China will be temporarily closed from now until February 9th at 24. Until March 13th, apple spokesman confirmed that all 42 retail outlets in mainland China had been reopened.

The effective control of the new crown epidemic in China enables apple to reopen its offline outlets in the short term, but it is not so lucky in other parts of the world.

In March 12th, Apple announced that it would close all retail stores in Italy indefinitely and shut down 11 retail outlets in Spain on March 14th. Two days later, apple CEO Cook said Apple will close offline stores outside Greater China to March 27th and donate $15 million to fight the epidemic.

But until the early May, a small number of stores in Europe and America were gradually reopened. In May 11th, Apple announced that it would open stores in Boise, the capital of Idaho, and open stores in Alabama, Alaska and South Carolina later this week.

In Europe, in May 5th, Austria's only Apple Store became Apple's first open European store, but considering the impact of the epidemic, its business hours were greatly reduced. Since then, Apple stores in Germany, Switzerland and Australia have been opening up on the premise of strictly limiting business hours.

For Apple Corp, China's mainland stores have been "thriving" in the past two months, but the question is how many users in China are willing to pay the bill. In fact, although the stores in mainland China were reopened earlier, and Apple Corp also launched the new low-cost mobile phone iPhone SE 2 in April 15th, sales of iPhone phones in the Chinese market were unhelpful to Apple's performance.

IDC Wang Xi, manager of China mobile phone market research, pointed out that iPhone SE 2 is a product with a partial circle of stock users. It will definitely compete in the 3000 yuan stalls with the Android market. But the core meaning of iPhone SE 2 is a defensive product for the stock users. In fact, it is in order to put iPhone6, 7 and 8 generations of users in the iOS camp.

First, Sun Yanbiao, President of the mobile phone Research Institute, bluntly pointed out that Chinese consumers did not accept products that were against the trend. IPhone SE proved that it was a failed product in China in 2016. "Apple has been selling old models since last September, and the old models are hard to sell in addition to price cuts, which will not be particularly optimistic for Apple's performance data. I think China will not be much help in Apple's performance, or even shrink. "

Global mobile phone market is hard to pick up

Apple mobile sales are struggling, but it is only a microcosm of the global mobile phone market. According to IDC released the first quarter of 2020, the global smartphone market data, the first quarter of the global smart phone shipments fell 11.7% to 275 million 800 thousand year-on-year.

In order to survive, mobile phone manufacturers have to find their own way out. After temporarily closing a large number of stores, apple shifted its focus to online sales channels. Cook said earlier that in the quarter ended March 31st, Apple Corp online store's retail performance has set a historical record, and its growth rate far exceeded expectations.

Although online sales channels have a positive effect on performance improvement, it will take time to test whether this new consumption mode can bring more sales to apple.

Wang Xi pointed out that whether such non-contact and online consumption habits will spread is very important. "It's not just how much quantity a person can bring, but the idea of pushing the concept to the whole industry."

In addition to the "ban" brought by the epidemic, there is also a subsequent problem of reducing purchasing power. Sun Yanbiao told the twenty-first Century business reporter that the rebound in the global mobile phone market will be more difficult due to the decline in purchasing power caused by the epidemic. Especially for Apple models, which always dominate high-end positioning, the decline of purchasing power will directly affect their sales volume.

Wang Xi also said that the mobile phone market in the second quarter of North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific basically matched the first quarter of the Chinese region, or even more serious. "The primary goal of the global mobile phone market is to go back to its normal level. It is hard to conclude whether it will be warmer in June and July, and more importantly, the epidemic tends to be stable and the market is back to normal."

Another important factor is that the production and circulation of mobile phone products are limited by the epidemic. It has been reported that the iPhone 12 conference will be postponed to October, and the new AirPods release time has also been postponed.

However, from the data point of view, the Chinese market began to pick up in April. According to the latest data released by China Communications Institute in May 12th, the total shipment volume of domestic mobile phones was 41 million 728 thousand in April this year, an increase of 14.2% over the same period last year. Among them, the domestic market 5G mobile phone shipments of 16 million 382 thousand, accounting for 39.3% of mobile phone shipments in the same period.

Therefore, the lack of apple 5G products is also a major problem in the Chinese market. In an interview with the twenty-first Century economic report, Wang Xi said that at present Apple's 5G products are relatively backward in the domestic mobile phone market, and in addition to the impact of the epidemic, Apple will face more challenges in the future.

Sun Yanbiao bluntly said that Apple Corp has been in the process of preparing 5G mobile phones. The epidemic affected the communication between American engineers and the Chinese industrial chain in the process of landing and mass production of Apple phones. The samples were elongated through the time cycle of logistics to and from China and the United States, resulting in the development cycle of 5G longer than expected time. (Editor: Zhang Xing)