At the beginning of the year, Apple acknowledged a decline in iPhone sales and revised its sales forecast for the Christmas quarter downward.
Apple CEO Tim Cook justified the correction with poor iPhone sales in China, among other things. According to the statement, Apple had underestimated the economic slowdown. According to Cook, users in other markets had not switched to the new iPhone generation as expected. Originally, total sales of between 89 and 93 billion US dollars were expected for the first quarter. Apple has lowered the forecast to 84 billion US dollars. Analysts' expectations were around 91 billion US dollars.
iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max and iPhone Xr affected
According to a recent report by the Nikkei Asian Review, Apple has again reduced production of the new iPhone models. Suppliers have been instructed to reduce production by 10 percent for the coming quarter.
The Japanese newspaper is citing insider information. According to the report, the instruction was issued before the profit warning. Accordingly, Apple expects a production volume of around 40 to 43 million iPhones. The initial forecast was 47 to 48 million units - in the same period last year, around 52.5 million iPhone models were sold. Experts had expected a higher cut - many users find the devices too overpriced - according to Nikkei.
Sales figures will remain confidential
When Apple released its last quarterly figures, it announced that it would no longer provide specific sales figures for individual products. The change will come into effect in the Christmas quarter.
This step is unlikely to please analysts and investors in particular. Many competitors, such as Samsung, have been taking this approach for some time. Apple justifies the measure by saying that concrete sales figures are not a good indicator of the success of Apple's business.
