Although industry analysts such as Ming-Chi Kuo are suggesting the upcoming iPhone XR will do better than the iPhone 8 did during its launch quarter, Taiwanese suppliers are said to be “cautious” about orders for the new handset.
Kuo predicts high demand for the new lower-priced and colorful iPhone XR during the fourth quarter. Kuo predicts better than expected demand for the iPhone XR along with improved supply starting in October.
Apple is expected to ship 36 to 38 million iPhone XR units in the fourth quarter of 2018.
However, Digitimes has a different outlook on the matter.
Despite the iPhone XR slated for launch in the latter half of October, Taiwan-based suppliers engaged in the Apple supply chain remain cautious about orders for the new iPhone series for the rest of 2018, according to industry sources.
If sales of the upcoming iPhone XR, which will be priced lower than the XS models, fail to stimulate the overall demand for iPhones, said the sources, Apple may slow down its pace of orders.
Citing the ever-popular “unnamed sources,” the report says some suppliers are predicting weak sales in the fourth quarter, including TSMC, Apple’s sole supplier of the A12 chip that powers the iPhone.
TSMC, for example, will likely generate lower-than-expected revenues in the fourth quarter, which may prompt the foundry to revise downward its sales guidance for all of 2018, the sources continued.
As is usual with Digitimes reports, it contains little in the way of hard information, and contains mostly rumblings from the supply chain, which is usually vague, and tends to be pessimistic.
Apple begins accepting pre-orders for the iPhone XR on Friday, October 19. The new handset will begin arriving in buyers hands the following Friday, October 26,