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
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
7 responses to “Apple may have slashed iPhone 6s orders due to ‘weak demand’”
Interesting title, not sure I would call 222 million ‘weak demand’, kinda click bait.
Well, if true you have to look at it context with projections — whether that’s fair or not. I did put ‘weak demand’ in quotes, however, since I definitely take on board your point.
Is this due to higher demand for the 6s plus? I have noticed several UK telco’s offering good deals on the 6s including the 64gb model , but there are no similar deals against the 6s plus.
It doesn’t look as though anyone is buying on the dip. It looks to me as though Apple stock is simply getting weaker by the day. When an analyst can simply project a figure and the stock gets dumped, I’d say there’s a major problem with Apple’s value. The EPS is climbing but the share price doesn’t seem to reflect those gains at all. Crying “Wolf!” seems to always work when it comes to Apple. I’m not sure why it’s even necessary considering these numbers are just guesses. Who set the 242 million sales number? I’m sure Apple didn’t.
The key point here is “Apple MAY have slashed orders”.
Hedge fund games…
To Cultofmac about blocking ads and your popup that lectures about it’s costing you money…FUCKYOU.
Find better sources of revenue you dirty, annoying leeches.
Credit Suisse is just desperate to make up some of the billions it’s lost in the past month in Valeant stock. Therefore, they had to pick a stock that the other banks would be game in trying to deceive the naive investors.
Little does Credit Suisse know that Apple TV today got a slew of new apps! And we still have another two weeks until Thanksgiving. Meaning more and more apps for the Apple TV; meaning millions of Apple TV sold and millions of apps downloaded.
So, if the phone dips over two quarters, which is expected over two quarters, Apple TV will be right behind to bring in even more billions.