Swiss bank Credit Suisse has lowered its iPhone sales estimates for 2016 from 242 million to 222 million — reflecting what the organization claims is lower-than-expected demand for the handset, prompting Apple to cut up to 10 percent of its component orders.
“The cuts seem to be driven by weak demand for the new iPhone 6s, as overall builds are now estimated to be below 80 million units for the December quarter and between 55-60 million units for the March quarter,” the bank said in a note to clients.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about potential order cuts for the iPhone 6s — despite its record-shattering 13 million unit sales in its first three days, largely thanks to adding China to the initial lineup of launch countries. Reports from individual countries suggest that the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus may have sold around 10-15 percent fewer units than last year’s iPhone 6.
Before you start proclaiming Apple to be dead, however, Credit Suisse isn’t recommending investors to sell their stock, but instead to “buy any dips.”
“While we acknowledge that shares may remain range bound for the next few quarters (between $100 and $130), we continue to believe any weakness creates an attractive entry point,” it notes. “Specifically, we see scope for Apple’s rapid installed base growth of iPhone to drive future upgrades beyond the next few quarters and additionally see the instalment plans structurally accelerating the upgrade rates of iPhone users.”
Source: CNBC
