A full year margin upgrade delivered at the first half results (as seen in each of the last 5 years) is the most likely prospect for a positive catalyst.
"Because of this shift, we have lost some of the higher-margin upgrades," he said.
It's obvious that Apple is making hefty margins from these upgrades.
Given no commentary, we assume no upside on EBITDA margins, meaning any overall upgrades are likely to be modest.
By appealing to the buyers' desire for more choice, design centers can serve as separate profit centers because the margins are higher on upgrades to a standard builder's package.
Now Dell is retrenching ahead of what is likely to be a devastating year, as corporate buyers forgo tech upgrades and margins on commoditized PCs get squeezed.
Those sales, in turn, drive billions of dollars in sales of high-margin services, plus perennial upgrades to run and enhance these switches.
They've pushed the Administration only for greater effort on the margins, such as upgrading communications equipment for firemen and federalizing airport security.
Of course, jewelry-based technology has been a tricky bet in its own right, and while the company boasts of higher margins, technology's upgrade cycle doesn't really comport all that well with the expense of high fashion.
Plus, the high-end version of the next iPhone will likely have much slimmer margins than an upgraded iPhone 7. Apple has long used incremental updates combined with bi-yearly design changes to keep margins healthy and it's unlikely that will change.
Liberum analysts said: These results should provide investors with a great deal of comfort and provide clear evidence of the upside potential of the group's self-help strategy...Management have also provided a positive outlook for both revenues and margins and we would expect upgrades to consensus of 8-10% for the full year 2017.
