Following ‘disappointing holiday season sales’, Nikkei reports that Apple has informed suppliers that as of March the company will be cutting iPhone X orders from 40 million units to around 20 million, a multi-billion dollar blow to Apple’s supply chain who are seeing iPhone orders slashed in half.
Nikkei claims Apple saw a lower than expected demand for the iPhone X over the holiday season in key markets such as the United States, United Kingdom, China, and across Europe. The source notes Apple is believed to be maintaining its existing production target of 30 million units across the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus range.
Suppliers are reportedly bracing themselves for the multi-billion dollar hits to their own revenues following the news…
The production cuts for the X will have a domino effect on manufacturers that have supplied high-performance components for the handset, with the combined impact expected to run into billions of dollars. Apple is believed to have started considering an increase to proportion of liquid crystal display iPhone models by reducing production of the OLED screen models scheduled for release this year.