Joining a slew of reports from a wide variety of sources who claimed that iPhone X sales are in serious trouble, a new story says that Apple will manufacture just 8 million iPhone X units during the second quarter of the year.
The company is disappointed with sales, according to a source, and doubts have grown within the company that $1,000 phones aren’t a winning idea in the current smartphone market.
Apple ordered too many iPhone X units in the Christmas quarter of 2017, when iPhone X sales were booming, according to FastCompany, and it’s now looking to “burn off” the inventory that piled up at resellers.
That’s why it has slashed the production of iPhone X to just 8 million units for the current quarter. Apple is expected to have sold up to 14 million iPhone X units during the first quarter of the year, down from an estimated 27 million in the December quarter.
Various Apple suppliers have already indicated that iPhone X production is slowing down by revealing reduced revenue estimates for the upcoming quarter. The list includes A11 chip supplier TSMC as well as Austrian laser tech company AMS which makes Face ID components. Samsung, the sole provider of the OLED screen used in the iPhone X, also said it expects slow demand for the second quarter.
Apple never reveals the actual split when it comes to sales, announcing only the total number of iPhones sold during a quarter. But the average selling price of the iPhone is a clear indication of how the iPhone X performed during the period.
In the Christmas quarter, the ASP grew to $796, indicating that the iPhone X accounted for a large percentage of the 77.3 million iPhones that Apple sold during the period.
Apple will report its financial results for the March quarter on May 1st, and the ASP will be one of the things to look out for.
In a best-case scenario, Apple might sell up to 60 million iPhone X units in the first year, but that’s assuming Apple manages to sell 33 million units by the end of the third quarter.
