Apple has reportedly reduced new iPhone production requests - again

A new report from the Nikkei's Asian Review claims that Apple has asked its suppliers for 10% fewer new iPhones than expected. This figure is derived from sources apparently familiar with this request, and applies to the first 3 months of 2019. According to them, it was prior to the release of an open letter in which Tim Cook downgraded his company's revenue- and margin-related guidance for the same year's fiscal first quarter.

The revised guidance indicated that Apple would only make US$84 billion for that period, rather than the minimum of $89 billion from an original estimate. This has clearly had a knock-on effect on projected sales and stock requirements for January through March 2019. More specifically, Nikkei's report asserts that Apple's planned production run for this period has been reduced to between 40 and 43 million units, whereas an initial estimate had been for 47 to 48 million devices.

For increased context, Apple sold 52.21 million units in the same quarter of 2018, translating in a rough 20% year-on-year reduction in production volumes. In addition, this is not the first time Apple has cut their supplier orders in relation to 2018's iPhone line-up. News like this may be why the company will no longer release its shipment data to the public.

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