How long can Apple stay away from smart phones?

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On the surface, Apple's situation does not look so optimistic. Although the iPhone 6 has become the focus of attention, but it will take months to launch. In the past few months, other manufacturers have launched several high-end smart phones. Although the market has slowed down, the level of competition has become even more intense. Samsung’s new smart phone, the Galaxy S5, has a mediocre response, which suggests that the iPhone 6 may also suffer.
However, Apple has maintained steady development.
In general, analysts expect Apple’s third-quarter earnings to show iPhone sales reaching 35.9 million units. Compared with the same period of last year, it increased by 15%. The continued increase in iPhone sales reflects an anomaly, which means that the smart phone business has matured and the market is clearly lacking new exciting products. Due to the shrinking demand for high-end equipment, analysts said that in this mature market, almost everyone has a smart phone. The question is: How long can Apple stay away from smart phones? Will the pressure of slow market development affect it?
Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty said: "The strong demand for the iPhone shows their loyalty to the Apple ecosystem." Katie - Herbie expects Apple's iPhone in the third quarter Sales will reach 39 million units, higher than the market consensus.
In any case, the iPhone will once again become Apple's quarterly earnings major contribution, and in general it will account for more than half of total revenue. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect that as of June, Apple's earnings will reach $1.23 per share, and total revenue will reach $37.9 billion. In March, Apple expects revenue to be between $36 billion and $38 billion.
Of course, Apple is not all good news, and iPad sales are a fatal injury. Apple's second quarter financial report showed that iPad sales fell to 16.4 million units, far below market expectations. Cook attributed this to changes in channel inventory and said iPad sales reached internal expectations. However, even after deducting inventory differences, iPad sales have fallen by more than 3%.
What Apple has to do is avoid repeating Samsung's mistakes. From the perspective of market share, Apple's nuclear Samsung has been subject to competitive pressure from Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE, the Chinese handset makers. In the first quarter, Apple and Samsung’s market share shrank.
Earlier this month, Samsung said that compared with last year, operating profit in the second quarter of this year fell by 24% to 7.2 trillion won (US$7.12 billion). At the same time, total revenue was 52 trillion won, down 9.4%. Both of these figures are lower than analysts' expectations and it is Samsung's worst performance in two years.
Samsung attributed this drop to the slow growth of the entire smart phone market and the strong won, but expressed cautious expectations that the development prospects in the third quarter will be slightly optimistic. Unlike Samsung, which produces a large number of devices in different price ranges, Apple is focused on launching devices targeting high-end markets. Apple will not fight the price war, but rely on the strong brand effect to attract more affluent consumers.
Just as Apple CEO Tim Cook said: "Apple's goal has always been to do the best, not more production."