Foxconn tweaks iPhone 14 production line to build more Pro and Pro Max units

Amid talk that Foxconn was able to start up production of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus in India sooner than expected, comes word that in China the contract manufacturer took apart the assembly lines it had created for those two models in order to build more iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models. Demand for the pricier Pro units in China is outstripping the demand for the more basic handsets.

This certainly shouldn't come as a surprise to Apple since the company worked hard to differentiate the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models as never before this year starting with the use of the new 4nm A16 Bionic chipset with nearly 16 billion transistors on the pricier iPhone 14 Pro models. The non-Pro phones have the 5nm A15 Bionic with 15 billion transistors; these chips were used on last year's iPhone 13 series. The smaller number of transistors on the A15 Bionic chip makes that component less powerful and energy-efficient than the new chips powering the Pro models.

In addition, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max sport a 48MP camera sensor on the back compared to the 12MP sensor on the cheaper phones. The OLED panels used on the Pro devices are better than the ones used on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, and the display on the cheaper handsets refreshes 60 times per second compared to the 120 times per second that the displays on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max update at.

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And arguably the most exciting new iPhone feature, the multitasking notifications center known as the Dynamic Island, is also available only on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. The two cheaper models still sport the same old notch. We should also point out that even though both Pro and non-Pro variants of the iPhone 14 come with 6GB of RAM (Random Access Memory), the more expensive Pro devices use the faster LPDDR5 version compared to the LPDDR4X variant of RAM employed on the non-Pro handsets.

According to The Statesman, sales of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus (the latter won't be released until October 7th due to production delays) dropped 71% in the first 11 days after being unveiled when compared to iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini sales rung up during the same time period last year. The 11 days included one week of pre-orders and four days of public sales.

While the year-over-year sales for the basic iPhone 14 models showed a huge decline on an annual basis, sales of the iPhone 14 Pro models compared to the iPhone 13 Pro models rose 38% on a year-over-year basis during the same 11 days following the unveiling of the new phones. The data is in line with comments made earlier this month by TF International's reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Kuo said in early September that he expects to see Apple cut production of the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Plus even though the latter will have the best battery life of any iPhone ever. Kuo, who is so prescient when it comes to Apple that he knows which suit CEO Tim Cook will wear on the third Thursday in December, said that sales of the most expensive 2022 iPhone, the iPhone 14 Pro Max, will account for a leading 30% to 35% of iPhone 14 series sales.

Considering the price of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, Apple has to be pleased by the stronger demand for this model. And next year, we could see more differentiation between the iPhone 15 Pro and the most expensive 2023 iPhone device which is rumored to be called the iPhone 15 Ultra. This device could feature a much beefier battery, and several exclusive camera features including a periscope telephoto camera, 8K video capability, a larger display, a dual-camera selfie snapper, and more.

In the U.S., during the pre-order period, the lead time for the iPhone 14 Pro Max was 36.5 days, the longest of any Apple product in six years. The lead time measures the number of days it takes between ordering a device until the product is in your hands. It is indicative of very strong demand for the phone.