Disappointing iPhone 14/14 Plus sales allegedly prompt Foxconn to cut production in favor of the iPhone 14 Pro/14 Pro Max

Apple released the iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Plus, the iPhone 14 Pro, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max earlier this month. While reviews of the devices have been stellar across the board, the little-to-no design changes of the non-Pro iPhone 14 models did disappoint some fans who were hoping for a more substantial upgrade over the iPhone 13. Unsurprisingly, consumers in China are apparently choosing the iPhone 14 Pro and the 14 Pro Max over the base models according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Per the publication, iPhone manufacturer Foxconn has dismantled some of the production lines for the iPhone 14/14Plus to increase manufacturing capacity for the Pro Models. Foxconn refused to comment on the matter calling the report “market rumors”.

Will Wong, an analyst at IDC, explained that the iPhone 14 had weak sales compared to the iPhone 14 Pro models with the iPhone 14 Pro Max selling the best. IDC’s analysis is in line with the comments made by famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who stated that, if Foxconn has indeed made changes to the production pipeline, the iPhone 14 Pro devices will amount from 60 to 65% of the total sales with the iPhone 14 Pro Max alone occupying up to 35% of the overall volume.

Moreover, SCMP reports (via Sandalwood Advisors) that the sales of the iPhone 14/14 Plus dropped by a whopping 71% from the day pre-orders went live to September 19 vs the iPhone 13 series. On the other hand, the iPhone 14 Pro and the 14 Pro Max recorded a 38% bump in sales during the same period. The analysis is based on the sales of the iPhone 14 series on a Chinese e-commerce platform called Tmall.

Long story short, the standard iPhone 14 devices are reportedly selling comparatively worse than the Pro models in China. One possible reason for this discrepancy could be the bigger spec differentiation between the non-Pro and Pro versions, making the Pro devices much better for the price than the base versions.

That said, it is quite early to say for certain how well the phones will do over the following years even though these early numbers don’t look good for the non-Pro iPhone 14 models.

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