Apple Announces May Product Event, Apple Vision Pro Sales Noise, A Few Suggestions for Apple

Hello everyone. We will begin today’s update with some words on Apple’s upcoming product event. The discussion will then turn to Apple Vision Pro.

Apple Announces May Product Event

Yesterday, Apple sent out invites to a product event taking place virtually on May 7th.

 
 

Based on the event invite artwork, it’s safe to say we are going to see a new Apple Pencil and some iPad updates. Rumors point to Apple updating the iPad Pro and iPad Air segments of the iPad line.

Tim Cook’s tweet about the event hints at an Apple Pencil update.

 
 


Last October, Apple unveiled an Apple Pencil with a USB-C charging port which had fewer features than the Apple Pencil (2nd gen). Apple didn’t call the new pencil Apple Pencil (3rd gen). Instead, it’s Apple Pencil (USB-C). This would suggest that we may see a true 3rd gen Apple Pencil next month. For much more on Apple Pencil strategy, check out the October 17th update where we take a deep dive into all things Apple Pencil.

Taking a step back, expectations for this

An Above Avalon membership is required to continue reading this update. Members can read the full update here. (Members: Daily Updates are accessible via the archive. If you haven’t logged into the archive before, fill out this form to receive an invite.)

Choose either a monthly or annual membership. Payment is hosted by MoonClerk and secured by Stripe. Apple Pay and other mobile payment options are accepted. After signup, use this link to update your payment information and membership status at any time. Contact me with any questions. 

Contact me directly if you would like to purchase multiple subscriptions (five or more) for your team or company.

An audio version of the newsletter is available to members who have the podcast add-on attached to their membership. More information about the podcast add-on is found here. Special Inside Orchard bundle pricing is available for Above Avalon members. Additional membership customization is available via the Financial Models add-ons.

More Smoke for Apple Vision Pro Production Issues, Goldman Sachs Looking For Way out of Apple Partnership

Hello everyone. It's good to be back after a long weekend. We will kick off this holiday-shortened week with two news stories that appeared on Neil’s radar. The update begins with Neil’s thoughts on the latest news from the Apple Vision Pro supply chain. Odds are increasing that we won’t know Vision Pro demand for quite some time after launch. The discussion then turns to Goldman Sachs reportedly looking to get out of its Apple partnership which raised various implications for Apple.

More Smoke for Apple Vision Pro Production Issues

Here’s The Financial Times:

“Apple has been forced to make drastic cuts to production forecasts for the mixed-reality Vision Pro headset, unveiled last month after seven years in development and hailed as its most significant product launch since the iPhone.

The complexity of the headset design and difficulties in production are behind the scaling back of targets, while plans for a more affordable version of the device have had to be pushed back, according to multiple people with direct knowledge of the manufacturing process...

Two people close to Apple and Luxshare, the Chinese contract manufacturer that will initially assemble the device, said it was preparing to make fewer than 400,000 units in 2024. Multiple industry sources said Luxshare was currently Apple’s only assembler of the device. Separately, two China-based sole suppliers of certain components for the Vision Pro said Apple was only asking them for enough for 130,000 to 150,000 units in the first year.”

The FT’s report adds credibility to TheElec’s report from last month which said Sony will be able to produce enough OLEDoS (OLED on Silicon) for about 450,000 headsets. Each headset contains two postage stamp-sized OLEDoS displays (one for each eye).

The ~450,000 headsets per year figure didn’t appear to include any impact from yield issues or other manufacturing difficulties. With those issues in mind, a more realistic supply figure would be

An Above Avalon membership is required to continue reading this update. Members can read the full update here. An audio version of this update is available to members who have the podcast add-on attached to their membership. More information about the podcast add-on is found here.

(Members: Daily Updates are always accessible by logging into Slack. If you haven’t logged into Slack before, fill out this form to receive an invite.)

Above Avalon Membership

Payment is processed and secured by Stripe. Apple Pay and other mobile payment options are accepted. Special Inside Orchard bundle pricing is available for Above Avalon members.

More information about Above Avalon membership, including the full list of benefits and privileges, is available here.