In the months and weeks preceding the iPhone X launch, it was widely reported that Apple’s next-gen iPhone, due to some manufacturing issues, was going to be extremely hard to find at launch. Some analysts even projected that Apple wouldn’t be able to meet demand well into 2018. But as it turns out, iPhone X supply is much more plentiful than initially anticipated. Just a few days ago, for example, shipping times on iPhone X orders in the U.S. dropped down to 1-2 weeks, a huge improvement from the 4-5 week shipping estimates we saw when the device first launched earlier this month.
Commenting on the matter, reputed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently issued a research note to investors (obtained via MacRumors) where he explained that more plentiful iPhone X supply is the result of improved production as opposed to being an indicator of perhaps weaker than anticipated demand.
Specifically, Kuo notes that daily iPhone X production has increased, at a minimum, by a factor of 3. Just a few weeks ago, Foxconn was rolling out anywhere from 50,000-150,000 iPhone X units a day. Today, Foxconn is manufacturing 450,000-500,000 units per day.
Interestingly, the items said to be responsible for the initial production bottlenecks were the dot projector from the TrueDepth camera sensor and components from the device’s LTE antenna.
With supply picking up and demand still incredibly strong, Kuo anticipates that iPhone X shipments during the current holiday quarter may track 10-20% higher than initial projections.
With consumers showing more excitement over the iPhone X than we’ve seen a new iPhone model attract in years, there’s a good chance that Apple in 2018 will sell more iPhones than ever before. To this point, Morgan Stanley analysts believe Apple next year could sell upwards of 262 million iPhones, a significant jump from the current record of 231.2 million units Apple sold in 2015 on the back of its iPhone 6 lineup.
Apple in typical fashion hasn’t officially commented on iPhone X demand but for an early statement indicating that pre-order sales were “off the charts.”
