Quarterly shipments of Apple’s iPhone 12 lineup continue to show a year-on-year increase, even as smartphone demand weakens.
An investor note from JP Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee (via AppleInsider), shows that while Chatterjee decreased his 2021 iPhone shipment prediction from 236 million units to 230 million units, the number is still a 13% overall bump in volume shipments from the same period in 2020.
Chatterjee revised his expectations, due to a significant cut in iPhone 12 Pro shipments, as well as weaker-than-expected demand for the iPhone 12 mini, both of which indicate lessening demand for smartphone handsets. Chatterjee continues to expect Apple to discontinue production of its iPhone 12 in the second quarter of 2021.
A report in January suggested Apple’s iPhone 12 mini was not selling as well as Apple had hoped, grabbing a mere 6% of iPhone 12 sales during November and December 2020. Another report claimed the iPhone 12 mini had accounted for only 5% of all iPhone 12 sales in the U.S. in the first half of January.
Analyst Chatterjee blames the slowing demand for the iPhone 12 lineup on weaker consumer spending in China, as well as a normalization of sales and demand trends following the initial hullabaloo over Apple’s adaptation of 5G connectivity in the iPhone 12 series.