Apple has reduced orders from its manufacturing suppliers for the iPhone XS and iPhone XR, according to a new report by The Wall Street Journal, adding weight to other recent reports that have suggested that sales of the latest models have not been going as well as anticipated. According to the report, the new three-model lineup has made it difficult for Apple to predict the balance of demand for the new iPhones, and this has been coupled with an overall slowdown of the smartphone market and possibly weak demand in China.
Of course, Apple also continues to sell a number of older iPhone models, and other recent reports have suggested that the iPhone 8 series remains in relatively high demand, and most analysts are predicting that the average selling price of iPhones will continue rising, meaning that Apple can still pull in the same kind of revenue even with weaker unit sales — possibly also suggesting a possible reason for the company’s choice to stop reporting unit sales in the new fiscal year. It also seems likely that Apple’s choice to cut manufacturing orders suggests a longer-term vision of sales moving into early 2019, rather than any anticipation of a holiday sales slump.
[via 9to5Mac]
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