Claw machines have always been a popular form of entertainment, no matter how old you are, and if one of the prizes inside is an iPhone XS, the excitement reaches a new level. Even though claw machines are hard to operate, a man managed to drop the iPhone XS in the prize slot — only to get the surprise of his life.
Hard work with the claw machine goes waste
An Indonesian Facebook user who goes only by the name Amrozi was on vacation in Taiwan when he saw the claw machine with the iPhone XS box inside. He decided to give it a try, filming the whole thing in a video he posted on the social network.
Most people know claw machines are pretty hard to maneuver, but when the prize is believed to be a $1,000 iPhone XS, the intent to win becomes stronger. This is what happened to Amrozi, who after a few attempts was able to drop the iPhone box into the prize slot.
At first he seemed pretty excited about his achievement, but when he opened the box, his disappointment was clearly evident. There was no iPhone XS inside the box. Instead, the box contained what looked like eight chocolates, but they weren’t even edible, which was another disappointment .
The “chocolates” were made of some inedible material like plastic. Upon inspecting the chocolates, the young man became a bit more hopeful when he found that each piece was actually a tiny container with something inside, but Amrozi again was disappointed to find that those small artificial chocolate pieces contained condoms.
Eight condoms instead of an iPhone XS
For all his painstaking efforts with the claw machine and then opening the fake chocolates, all he got was eight condoms.
One noteworthy point to make about the claw machine incident was the packaging of the box. The iPhone box was wrapped in plastic similar to the packaging from Apple. Additionally, it was not the only iPhone XS box in the claw machine; there were three more like it.
Since Amrozi uploaded the video to Facebook, he has been getting all sorts of comments. Some advised him to sue the shop for tricking customers, while others cracked jokes about the incident.
“Life is like a box of iPhone,” one user said. “You never know if you are getting chocolate, condoms or both.”
The comment was a twist on a well-known quote from the movie Forrest Gump, in which the main character proclaims, “Momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.'”
iPhone sales down 20%
New data from Counterpoint Research indicates iPhone sales were down 20% in November. This latest iPhone sales number comes as Apple lowered its revenue forecast for the first fiscal quarter of 2019.
According to Counterpoint, sales of the newest iPhone models — the XR, XS and XS Max — were down 20% on a year-over-year basis compared to the 2017 models (the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X). The iPhone XR was reported to the best-selling iPhone in November 2018, but according to Counterpoint, the more expensive iPhone X in November 2017 was actually the best-selling model. Further, the research firm claims that in terms of volume, the iPhone X sold 50% more than the newer iPhone XR. The iPhone X sold well despite its higher price tag of $999, compared to $799 for the XR.
According to Counterpoint’s data, the iPhone XR outsold the XS and XS Max, and the 64 GB XR was the top-selling iPhone in the month. However, compared to the iPhone 8, iPhone XR sales were down 5%. It must be noted that both the iPhone 8 and XR were the cheapest models in their respective lineups, and the former sold better despite the the XR’s new design and several new features that were missing in the 2017 model.
Apple blamed conditions in China and a drop in sales in one of the biggest smartphone markets in the world for its reduced revenue guidance. Fewer-than-expected upgrades in developed markets also contributed to the drop in iPhone sales.
“The overall sales of new iPhones took a hit in November due to slower sales of the series in the Asia Pacific region (excluding China and India), Europe and US,” Counterpoint Research said in a blog post. In the Asia Pacific region, the drop in sales is largely attributed to the higher price of the new iPhones.
