Supplier says that Apple iPhone X production cut is much less than 50%

Yesterday, we told you about a report published by Japan's Nikkei, which cited the Apple iPhone supply chain in passing along speculation about iPhone X production this quarter. According to the report, during the three months from January through March, Apple will halve the number of  iPhone X models it originally planned on producing to 20 million units. That 50% decline is steep, but seems to mesh with other reports indicating that Apple's premium 10-year anniversary edition is not selling well.

But there is one member of the supply chain who says that the production cut is not as massive as reported. Murata Manufacturing Co., which supplies parts for smartphones made by both Apple and Samsung, says that it hasn't seen its orders from Apple drop to the extent that it would expect to see with a 50% decline in production. Yoshitaka Fujita, vice chairman of Murata, says "Our understanding is that it (the production cut) is not that great."

On Thursday, Apple will report earnings for its fiscal first quarter. Along with that information, the company will announce how many iPhone units it sold during the three month period from October through the end of December. Most Wall Street analysts are revising downward their forecasts of iPhone sales for this year. For example, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi predicts that Apple will sell 220 million iPhone units in 2018, a small 1.5% rise from the 216.7 million sold in 2017. It also is a 4.8% decline from the record 231.2 million handsets sold by Apple in 2015.

source: Reuters