Poor iPhone 8 sales could be dragging down iPhone X momentum

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iPhone SE 2 could cost $399 just like the first-gen iPhone SE
Apple suppliers are reportedly seeing decreasing orders for iPhones in 2018.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Poor sales of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus may be dragging down “the momentum” of the iPhone X, a new report claims.

Citing component suppliers in the iPhone supply chain, it’s claimed that the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus began to show signs of declining demand in the fourth quarter of 2017, and overall component orders for iPhone devices in Q1 2018 have dropped 15-30 percent below the expected numbers as a result.

“Some suppliers reportedly plan to temporarily halt their production in February as the low order visibility from Apple and the week-long Lunar New Year holidays will drastically bring down their capacity utilization rates,” claims the report.

The reduced orders are hitting many in the upstream supply chain, including those manufacturing memory chips, camera modules, 3D sensing modules, PCBs and IC backend service firms. As a result, they have been alerted to the need to control their inventory levels to cushion the possible impacts that might accompany decreasing iPhone orders.

Apple’s iPhone X and iPhone 8 supercycle

So far, there have been mixed reports about the success of Apple’s latest iPhones, which were considered to be a “supercycle” for Apple.

Apple managed to get iPhone X supply to match up with demand much sooner than most were expecting — although there has been disagreement over whether this is a case of Apple’s operations wizardry or of weaker-than-expected demand. One recent report suggested that weak demand has caused Apple to cut orders for the iPhone X from 50 million to 30 million units.

Similar conflicting reports concern the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. Early reports suggested that the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus experienced disappointing first weekend sales, although KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has blasted these reports for being “excessively negative.”

Ultimately, we’ll find out for sure on February 1, when Apple hosts a conference call to discuss this very quarter.

What have been your anecdotal observations about the iPhone X and iPhone 8? Which, if any, have you bought? Have you spotted more of one than the other out on the streets? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Digitimes

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