What it is: Analyst Andy Hargreaves claims Apple only has weeks to fix its fingerprint sensor on the next iPhone.
If there’s one thing you can depend on, it’s stupidity from Wall Street analysts. One of the latest blatant examples of faulty thinking comes from analyst Andy Hargreaves who claims that Apple only has a few weeks to fix the fingerprint sensor on the iPhone screen. Andy Hargreaves goes on to further claim that if Apple omits the fingerprint sensor on the next iPhone, then the next iPhone won’t support Apple Pay, which you can use by holding your fingerprint on the iPhone.
First, consider the second claim. Why would Apple keep Apple Pay off the next iPhone when Apple Pay is a critical part of its services division? That bogus claim alone should make Andy Hargreaves’ claim appear as useless as it really is. If Apple did cut Apple Pay from the next iPhone, that would truly be a monumental blunder of colossal proportions.
Second, consider the idea that Appel only has weeks to fix the fingerprint sensor on the iPhone screen. Would Apple rush the fingerprint sensor to manufacturing or would they simply have a fallback plan in case they can’t get the fingerprint sensor to work on the entire touch screen instead of a dedicated fingerprint button? If anyone at Apple has a brain, you would think they would simply have a fallback plan in case the touch screen fails to recognize fingerprints accurately.
Far too many analysts make outrageous claims for attention, and then quietly disappear when their outrageous claims don’t even come close to being true. Such analysts might as well write for The National Enquirer and claim space aliens are in the White House or that Bigfoot is secretly running GreenPeace to protect the rights of animals.
When analysts or other commentators make outrageous claims, take a moment to think about them. Then take a moment to remember what these claims are and who said them. That way in the future, you’ll be able to recognize the people most likely to say something for attention and then conveniently ignore their past mistakes so they can keep making more outrageous claims in the future to a public that keeps forgetting about their poor track record of inaccurate predictions.
Here’s what we know about the next iPhone. It may offer a fingerprint sensor through the entire touch screen, or it may have a dedicated fingerprint sensor like today’s iPhone does. Either way, a fingerprint sensor is crucial for not only using Apple Pay with the iPhone, but also for using Apple Pay on a Macintosh. It’s highly unlikely Apple will dump Apple Pay on the next iPhone.
Also Apple needs a lengthy manufacturing time to produce products, so they likely pursue several goals at once with fallback plans in case some of those ideas can’t be implemented properly. For any analyst to claim that Apple has a limited time to fix problems may be accurate, but omits the details that Apple likely has fallback plans so they can continue producing products without delay.
How analysts have a job making wild claims is a mystery. If you want a job where you have no accountability and can say what you want without bothering to research facts, then you want to work as a Wall Street analyst. If you want to use logic, then you’ll have to get a job doing something else.
To read Andy Hargreaves’ report on the future of the next iPhone, click here.