Ming-Chi Kuo cuts iPhone shipment estimates due to weak demand for iPhone XR
World-renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has reduced his iPhone shipment estimates for the first quarter of 2019 by 20 percent, expecting Apple to sell between 38-42 million iPhones in the quarter, down from his original estimate of 47-52 million devices.
Within the report Kuo says he has specifically revised his shipment estimate for the iPhone XR to 15-20 million for the first quarter, down from 20-25 million.
The research note with TF International Securities, obtained by MacRumors, notes how the increase in orders of older iPhone models (legacy iPhone models) such as the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus continues to hassle new iPhone growth.
We have reduced our 1Q19 iPhone shipment estimation by 20% to 38–42mn units (vs. our previous forecast of 47–52mn): We cut the 1Q19 iPhone shipment estimation again for the following reasons. (1) Lower-than-expected XR demand. We have reduced our 1Q19 XR shipment estimation to 15–20mn units vs. our previous forecast of 20–25mn units. (2) The increase in orders of legacy iPhone models cannot offset the decline of XR and XS series shipments because of the low season impact.
It’s no secret that iPhone isn’t selling as well as Apple had hoped. Reports at the beginning of December suggested the company has asked groups of marketing staff to put projects on hold and to turn their attention onto boosting iPhone sales.