The iPhone 12 is seemingly shaping up to be a massive winner for Apple, with a Tuesday report claiming that Apple is set to produce between 20% and 30% more handsets than it did last year.
The report says that Apple has plans to produce up to 230 million iPhones in 2021. While that also includes older handsets like the iPhone 11 and SE, it is primarily driven by “demand for [Apple’s] first-ever 5G” phones, according to Nikkei.
“The planned production for the next quarter and the following quarter have been decided and the outlook is quite bright,” an executive at an Apple supplier is quoted as saying in the article.
The executive suggests that demand for the top-level iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max proved stronger than many anticipated. Demand for the iPhone 12 fell in line with expectations. Meanwhile, demand for the iPhone 12 mini “is a bit sluggish.”
Nonetheless, this is great news for Apple — which experienced two years of consecutive declines in smartphone sales in 2018 and 2019.
Nikkei notes that, while components are currently in short supply for many smartphone-makers, Apple is in a good position. During the pandemic, it worked to stockpile as many chips as it could. It also recently made the decision to take components bound for 2 million to 3 million iPads and reallocate them for use on the iPhone 12 series.
Beyond iPhone 12 demand: Updates on other products
Finally, the report gives some updates on other Apple product lines. It says that Apple is currently working on a new Apple TV for 2021. Apple’s fifth-gen Apple TV set-top box, its latest update, was launched more than three years ago in September 2017. Next year’s update will be the first to ship since Apple launched its Apple TV+ streaming service in 2019.
It also says Apple has an “aggressive production schedule” for manufacturing computers, including the MacBook Pro and iMac Pro. This seemingly refers to new models that will boast Apple Silicon chips. Apple released its first Apple Silicon Macs, powered by the company’s custom M1 chip, last month. Hopes are already high for the next generation of Apple Silicon Macs.
Source: Nikkei
