Hard times for Apple. The once-trillion-worth company has lost
over 26% of it’s value since it’s peak-value in October 2018.
The shares of Apple are even less worth than last year which
means that Apple even missed it’s 52wk goal.

But what brings AAPL shares so down? Why is Apple loosing so much of it’s value again? Bad sales? Bad reputation? Common nervousity on the stock markets?

Well, maybe it’s a bit of everything. Apple has made a really bad decision to high-price it’s newest gadgets. Only Apple Watch got only slightly more expensive with it’s newest series. This reflects in sales: The Apple Watch Series 4 is a successful seller these days and it outperforms it’s decessors easily becoming the most-anticipated wearable in 2018. Not even other Android-based Wearables can reach this output. Only FitBit has reached slightly better sales but that’s ecause some people want a more-easy-usable Wearable which just tracks their fitness data and nothing else.

The iPhone XS (Max) and XR seem to become a real crasher here. With almost up to 2000 US$ for the top-notch tier of the XS Max, the phone is as expensive as a MacBook Pro in a moderate configuration. That’s so silly. People have paid high prices for smartphones in the past but since the market is saturated, people expect lower prices, especially with Android phones being less expensive while offering similar features and performance.

Oh and while we’re at it: The iPad Pro really blows your mind off when you look at the 1TB tier with 4G+WLAN. None less tthan 2299US$ are asked from Apple to fork over one of it’s newest tablets. Apple has a high-performance tablet, yes but still it isn’t seen as a total replacement for the MacBook Pro. And if a tablet with a far less versatility than a MacBook Pro is raising the cost to it’s level, then it’s obvious that people either tend to purchase an existing MacBook Pro or get a tablet from the competitors. Microsoft, Samsung, HTC, Huawei… they all have seen a raise in sales for their tablet computers. And that’s because they sell it for a way more humane price.

Then let’s have a look on the MacPro. Yes, it is a stylish AIO computer, yes it is performing well and seems to have no problems with even the biggest task you fire at it. But hey… if you equip it like a real workstation, then the price easily passes the 5000US$-hotspot and makes many users stutter when Apple sums it all up. And believe it or not. It’s a real ripoff if you have to shell out 800US$ for a simple 32 to 64GB update whereas complete 64GB kits are at 500US$ maximum. Even disp space is sold like gold. 1TB to 2TB update… sure… fork over 900US$ and we’re fine with that. Hello?! 2TB SSDs are at 460 US$ at the moment and we speak of the most modern drives that do not use QLC. to offer cheap space. We speak of MLC (2-level) here. So Apple, what’s with this rip-off here? Why? It’s obvious that people compare prices online.

And then there’s the Mac Mini. Long-anticipated, people were hoping for a little wonder to call their own to enter the Mac world. And then you release it with prices that come close to a well-fitted MacBook Pro. That’s just stupid. Look back at the time where everything went fine for Apple. Prices were high, yes but still they were reasonable. And people bought the devices like hell. I can remember time where the iPhone 4 was sold out for WEEKS. And then with the iPhone 8/X/XS you can get it with no problem in days. The reason? High prices. Ridiculously high prices, we might add.

And while Huawei, HTC and Samsung experience another run on their phones, well… Apple will again face rough times even with the release of a “budget” iPhone XS (called XR). even that phone crosses the 1000US$ line when bought at a top-level tier. And since it’s capacity isn’t expandable with memory cards, people will definitely go with the highest tier available in order not to run out of space.

The price for this war against it’s loyal customers is that sales plummet and devices aren’t bought at a rate Apple expected.

How could Apple bump up it’s sales again? Well… they could grant a price reduction and we speak of 15% or more. That wouldn’t hurt Apple at any rate and still accelerate sales. Apple would still make a fortune compared to the net price it has to pay to have it manufactured.

So for now Apple is in a big misery now and they will have to rethink their strategy. Otherwise 2019 will be an even rougher and uglier year for Apple.. But that’s for Tim Cook and the Apple Business analysts to detect and decide the right steps. I hope they don’t wait too long for the right countermeasurements to be done otherwise the AAPL stocks will dip even further. And if that’s happening, Apple will even loose it’s once hard-fought-for premier position… at the cost of loyal customers and employees…