Analyst expects iPhone sales to drop next year, predicts no big redesign

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Analyst expects iPhone sales to drop next year, predicts no big redesign
The 2018 iPhone lineup

At one point, Apple’s brand-recognition and premium image appeared unstoppable in the smartphone segment. But over the past few months, multiple reports have hinted at weak sales. And now, in yet another blow, Nomura analyst Anne Lee is expecting further sales declines in both 2019 and 2020.

From a very respectable 213 million units in 2018, the analyst in question believes Apple’s iPhone shipments will drop to 204 million units next year, before falling even further to 200 million in 2020. This will reportedly happen due to “limited changes” in the external department.

According to the report, Apple will retain the design language introduced with the iPhone X one final time in 2019. This essentially means that the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max successors will be almost identical to the current-gen devices in the looks department. The only major difference, other than the usual internal upgrades and camera improvements, will be the presence of some extra Augmented Reality features, according to the analyst.

As a direct result of this, Apple is expected to introduce some external changes to its iPhones in 2020, although these weren’t specified. Anyhow, the most likely change will be the removal of the controversial notch. In addition to this, the analyst states that a greater focus on AR and the introduction of 5G to the iPhone lineup are to be expected.

At the moment, Apple itself hasn’t officially addressed any of the recent sales reports. But a few recent changes to its marketing strategy do suggest that they are true. Because of this, further declines in the coming years wouldn’t be impossible.

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