Google Troubles, iPhone SE Surprises Both Bode Well For Apple

On Friday, JPMorgan analysts Rod Hall and Ashwin Kesireddy issued a technology industry note highlighting Apple Inc. AAPL and Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL after reports of Nest's (Alphabet's programmable thermostat) struggles in the market and anticipated demand for Apple's cheaper iPhone SE.

Regarding the anticipated release of the iPhone SE, analysts wrote, "Given slowing iPhone growth this year we do expect Y/Y unit growth to be lower than in prior years though we suspect that the SE's lower price point could surprise on the upside through the Summer."

Related Link: Apple Users Around The World Are "Remarkably Similar"

This statement was in response to a DigiTimes article that predicted lower than expected iPhone sales for 2016. JPMorgan, on the other hand, sees the iPhone SE's low price point as a potential catalyst to drive iPhone sales growth.

Regarding the hardware issues for Alphabet, JPMorgan wrote, "In our opinion this is yet further evidence that Google continues to struggle with making hardware. This follows ongoing difficulty in getting desired results from the Android ecosystem."

Based on Alphabet's hardware platform struggles, analysts believe that Apple's position as a market leader in technological hardware is solidified.

At time of writing, Alphabet (GOOG) was trading down 0.39 percent at $742.02, while Apple was down 0.33 percent at $108.63.