Apple Reportedly Cuts iPhone XS and iPhone XR Production Orders Amid Lower-Than-Expected Demand

[Rogifan]

All these posts saying Apple needs to do this, and that, blah blah blah...all based on a RUMOR that has yet to be proven to be true. And a RUMOR that drops ever holiday quarter every year like clockwork.

 

[ginkobiloba]

"Apple slashed production orders for its latest iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR models due to "lower-than-expected demand"

Easy : Tim Cook will just raise the prices again next year to compensate. Problem solved.

 

[snugja]

Still haven't seen an iPhone XR in the wild.

 

[BigMcGuire]

All these posts saying Apple needs to do this, and that, blah blah blah...all based on a RUMOR that has yet to be proven to be true. And a RUMOR that drops ever holiday quarter every year like clockwork.

Articles like this bring out a lot of the accounts that just love to bash apple, they live and thrive on it and Macrumors makes a load of $ on their visitation / ad revenue. I mean, I kinda get it... being a troll can be fun once in a great while, I use sarcasm now and then... but I don't think I could do it all the time.

 

[I7guy]

It's companies like Hauwei who are beginning to hurt Apple especially in the far East markets which have become very important to Apple. Then you have companies like OnePlus who are really starting to get consumers interested in a flagship killer at half the price of the iPhone. And to be perfectly honest even the old iOS Android debate is no longer enough to put customers off.

If you have two phones pretty evenly matched (for the average consumer) and one is half the price of the other, why is it savvy to pay for the one which costs twice as much?

These companies are having Samsung for lunch, not Apple. Sales of galaxy and note are dismal according to reports.

iOS vs android, unlike you claim, is a relevant conversation in the minds of consumers. There are those who buy strictly on price and for those samsung and Apple both suffer unless said person buys a cheap Samsung phone.

 

[A7ibaba]

Hmmm, thats quite strange. Maybe they should increase price a little bit more to stimulate sales.

 

[MilaM]

iPhones are just not as exciting anymore. It's more like a commodity nowadays. Even the iPhone 7 does everything the average user needs, so there is little preassure to have the latest and greatest. Plus the devices are super durable.

 

[kemal]

....But will Apple learn from this?

 

[hawkeye_a]

And so, it begins.... the inevitable post-Jobs Apple slump.

 

[run1976]

I would consider the XR to be a very reasonably priced iPhone. Do we not remember that the original iPhone launched the 8gb model for $599 with a 2 year contract? So you’re telling me the iPhone XR only went up $150 in 11 years? A 20% increase over 11 years is pretty reasonable considering much of the market is about to take a 25% increase on goods due to the tariff? Oh did I mention you also get a slight bump in features on the XR vs the iP1.

The original iPhone was a flagship. The xs Max is the right comparison to make. And there you go: price almost doubled in 11 years. That is well above inflation rates.

 

[Lankyman]

These companies are having Samsung for lunch, not Apple. Sales of galaxy and note are dismal according to reports.

iOS vs android, unlike you claim, is a relevant conversation in the minds of consumers. There are those who buy strictly on price and for those samsung and Apple both suffer unless said person buys a cheap Samsung phone.

Why would you not buy on price if both phones are similarly matched - only a fool pays over the odds whatever it is they are buying.

Unless of course you validate your life by the things you own.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Thank you. Every year it’s the same thing. Nevermind that maybe, just maybe, Apple had an abnormally high production rate going in advance of launch to meet initial demand. The last story Apple really wants is to hear is if people went to buy their new iPhone and there wasn’t enough supply.

I’ve been meaning to give you this LOL.

 

[Remy149]

Good. Time to bring prices down to a sane level.

I don’t want a price drop if it effects the type of devices we can actually purchase
[doublepost=1542643568][/doublepost]

Crossing fingers this is the beginning of the end for Tim Cook's era.

Speak for yourself because this year offered some of the most desired apple products in a single calendar year for me to upgrade

 

[DDustiNN]

I’d re-buy an iPhone XS if they’d fix the stuttering animations.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-xs-momentary-stuttering-after-inactivity.2141542/

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8565789

Returned my first one and stuck with the silky smooth X.

 

[CrzyP]

The price is not stopping me from upgrading. It's the fact the my iPhone 6s is still working great after three years. iOS 12 and a battery replacement made it not necessary to upgrade. The only things I feel like I'm missing out on are the better LTE modems and the camera, but it's not a big deal when those things still work well on the 6s.

 

[somerandommacperson]

In recent weeks, Apple slashed production orders for its latest iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR models due to "lower-than-expected demand," among other reasons, according to unnamed sources cited by The Wall Street Journal.

The report claims the production cuts have hit the iPhone XR hardest, with Apple said to have slashed its production plan for the device by "up to a third of the approximately 70 million units" it had asked some suppliers to produce between September and February, amounting to a reduction of up to 23.3 million units or so.

And in the past week, the report claims Apple told several suppliers that it cut its production plan again for the iPhone XR, as it battles a mature smartphone market and increasing competition from Chinese vendors like Huawei.

The production cuts are said to have "reignited frustration" among iPhone suppliers and "raised worries about Apple's ability to forecast demand."

We've heard this narrative before. Last year, a flurry of reports variously referred to the iPhone X as a "failure," "disappointment," and "flop." Another report said the iPhone X "did not live up to the hype." Yet, the iPhone X went on to become not only the top-selling iPhone at Apple, but in the entire world.

Apple also reported record-breaking iPhone revenue of $61.5 billion in the iPhone X launch quarter, so the device was anything but a flop.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has dismissed these kind of reports in the past. During an earnings call in January 2013, he noted that the company's supply chain is very complex and that conclusions shouldn't be drawn from singular data points:Apple's financial chief Luca Maestri has also cautioned about trying to determine iPhone demand based on potentially misleading supply chain reports.

It is possible, however, that Apple is increasingly struggling to forecast iPhone demand. Today's report claims that Apple was "excessively optimistic" about its initial production forecast for the iPhone X, which it proceeded to slash "by some 20 million units" for the first three months of 2018.

Unfortunately, iPhone sales will be less transparent going forward, as Apple announced that it will no longer disclose iPhone unit sales in its earnings reports starting with the first quarter of its 2019 fiscal year.

Justifying the move, Maestri said unit sales are "not particularly relevant for our company at this point," as they are "not necessarily representative of the underlying strength of our business." He added that Apple may provide qualitative commentary related to unit sales if the info is valuable to investors.

Apple will still disclose iPhone revenue on a quarterly basis, however, and any significant year-over-year decline in that amount would help indicate if iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR demand is truly lower than expected.

AAPL is down nearly 15 percent since Apple's earnings report on November 1.

Article Link: Apple Reportedly Cuts iPhone XS and iPhone XR Production Orders Amid Lower-Than-Expected Demand

Oh that's too bad... now where's that iPhone XSE (or whatever a 4" iPhone is called)? Mr. Cook, I've got $649 for a 4" iPhone. You selling?

 

[I7guy]

Why would you not buy on price if both phones are similarly matched - only a fool pays over the odds whatever it is they are buying.

Unless of course you validate your life by the things you own.

Nothing like floating your own value system as a universal truth. Imo, all android are interchangeable, buy on price or buy on premium. iOS is not interchangeable with android and I’ll start with Group FaceTime, of which we don’t have to futz with third party inferior software.

I spend a more upfront so the efficiencies I gain by having better work related tools, in my work related endeavors let me have the type of family life I want.

Now you can do whatever you want, but that my opinion on this.

 

[Radon87000]

These companies are having Samsung for lunch, not Apple. Sales of galaxy and note are dismal according to reports.

iOS vs android, unlike you claim, is a relevant conversation in the minds of consumers. There are those who buy strictly on price and for those samsung and Apple both suffer unless said person buys a cheap Samsung phone.

Samsung can buy those small fries with cash in bank. Also since Apple is hiding the iPhone sales, seems that's not ding well either.

 

[Thresher]

When will Apple’s Board of Directores realize that Tim Cook’s greed is a threat to this company in a long-term?

The Board is part of the problem. They have a responsibility to maximize shareholder value. What Cook is trying to do is just that, by increasing the per unit net. There is a point where cost meets demand and you can maximize profits, but I think they may have gone too far above that point now.

 

[Radon87000]

Nothing like floating your own value system as a universal truth. Imo, all android are interchangeable, buy on price or buy on premium. iOS is not interchangeable with android and I’ll start with Group FaceTime, of which we don’t have to futz with third party inferior software.

I spend a more upfront so the efficiencies I gain by having better work related tools, in my work related endeavors let me have the type of family life I want.

Now you can do whatever you want, but that my opinion on this.

I am using a Note 9 and an iPhone X simultaneously. Skype works beautifully.

 

[dazz87]

Shocking! Budget specs but high price.....

 

[wigby]

It doesn't prove that at all. Thats a really simple way of looking at things. £750 for a second tier device is a lot of money. You can either say the XR isn't successful because its too cheap or you can say that apple have basically made all their phones too expensive and people are completely breaking from the idea of replacing their phones every year or even 2 years.

The fact they have reduced all expectations on their iPhones tells your they have screwed up somewhere. Whats the betting its on pricing....

What "fact" are you talking about? A rumor based on other rumors?

 

[I7guy]

Samsung can buy those small fries with cash in bank. Also since Apple is hiding the iPhone sales, seems that's not ding well either.

So let Samsung buy them. Samsung is not buying Huawei. And as far as Apple not reporting unit sales, we can hypothecate about this until the cows come home.

 

[mi7chy]

Slash prices across the board by at least 30% to increase sales because the strategy to keep increasing prices on lower volume isn't working.

 

[Dirtydutch]

This is not quite the same for those saying same story every year. Production on every new model is not typically cut until the beginning of the following year, not this early following its release...