iPhone X demand may be weaker than Apple expected

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iPhone X
Apple may be considering a price reduction in early 2018.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

iPhone X shipments are likely to be somewhere between 30-35 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, a new report claims.

If true, this would be something of a disappointment for Apple. Sources in the semiconductor packaging and testing service industry suggest that iPhone X pre-orders in markets including the United States, Taiwan, and Singapore were not as strong as expected.

Cowen analyst Karl Ackerman previously claimed that sales of the new device are “good,” but possibly not as good as anticipated.

Supply has caught up with demand

After suffering a number of manufacturing issues, Apple is now on-track with its iPhone X production. According to respected Apple analyst KGI Securities’ Ming-Chi Kuo, iPhone X assembler Foxconn is currently shipping 440,000 to 550,000 iPhone X units per day, representing an enormous increase on the 50,000 to 100,000 units being shipped each day just a couple months back.

Apple has also managed to get supply of its new handset to match up to demand, with next day delivery currently available for all models of iPhone X. Whether this is Apple’s operations wizardry or weaker-than-expected demand remains to be seen.

The report suggests that iPhone X shipments will drop slightly in the first quarter of 2018 or otherwise remain flat. It also claims that some markets, such as Japan, are still experiencing constrained supplies. As a result of the iPhone X’s alleged “weak performance,” Apple is said to be considering adjusting iPhone pricing in early 2018.

Not all of the news is quite so negative, though. The same report suggests that Apple Watch sales are doing very well. In 2018, the source expect Apple Watch shipments to reach 27 million units, higher than the previous forecasts of 23-25 million units.

Source: Digitimes

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