According to a report from market research expert Ming Chi Kue of TF International Securities, Apple has cut orders for the iPhone 16 series by nearly 10 million units, spanning from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025.
The cuts mainly fall on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus models, while the sales of the two high-end Pro and Pro Max models are still as expected.
After the cuts, Apple will produce 84 million iPhone 16 series units in the second half of 2024, not the 88 million units originally planned.
In the fourth quarter of this year alone, Apple will produce 80 million iPhone 16 series units, a slight decrease compared to 84 million units of the iPhone 15 series in the same period last year.
In the first quarter of 2025, Apple is expected to produce 45 million iPhones, compared to 48 million in the first quarter of 2024.
In the second quarter of 2025, the "apple house" will produce 39 million iPhones, compared to 41 million units in the same period in 2024.
Despite the production cut, Apple's revenue in the last 3 months of 2024 will not be much affected, because the iPhone 16 Pro Max sells very well and is expected to be the best-selling smartphone during this period.
The impact of the cuts will be felt more sharply in the first half of 2025, partly due to lower average prices due to the launch of the iPhone SE 4.
Before the launch of the iPhone 16 series, experts expected that the implementation of Apple Intelligence would boost sales. However, difficulties in deploying AI globally from progress, technology to legal issues have caused the number of products sold not to jump as expected.
Previously, Barclays also released a report emphasizing that Apple has cut iPhone 16 production by up to 3 million units in the last 3 months of 2024. They also emphasized that iPhone 16 sales have decreased by 15% compared to the same period last year.
Both reports hint that a lack of focus on hardware innovation is one of the reasons why demand for Apple's latest handsets has been lackluster.
This means that Apple will find it difficult to surpass Samsung to become the best-selling smartphone manufacturer in the fourth quarter of this year.
