Last week, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, sent a letter to the investors stating that the company expected to lose $9 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2019. Now, according to a report from Nikkei Asian Review, the Cupertino-based company is cutting down productions for new iPhones by 10 percent for the current quarter.
The report stated that Apple asked its suppliers to reduce production for its flagship models last month – before it issued the earnings warning. That’s in addition to a similar move reported by The Wall Street Journal in November – making the recent development Apple’s second production cut in just a few months after the launch of the iPhone XS.
People familiar with the matter told Nikkei Asian Review that the production target for new and old iPhones was slashed to 40 to 43 million units from 47 to 48 million units for the January-March quarter.
Last year, Apple sold 52.21 million iPhones in the January-March quarter. But given the revenue adjustment and slowdown in iPhone sales, that number is surely going to take a hit. The company said last year that it won’t reveal unit sales beginning Q1 2019, so we’ll only have figures from industry analysts to gauge the drop in sales this year.
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Cook said in his letter that weak iPhone demand in China was one of the main reasons why Apple had to adjust its revenue target. It’ll be interesting to see if Apple cuts down iPhone prices to entice customers and increase sales.
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