“Reportedly, Apple has instructed its suppliers to prepare for production of 75 million iPhones through end-2019”
Apple’s 2019 iPhone production is reportedly expected to remain consistent with the production figures for 2018. A report by Bloomberg has cited sources within Apple’s supply chain stating that the company has instructed suppliers to prepare for production of 75 million iPhone units through end-2019. This figure is in line with the net production of 2018’s iPhones — the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR.
The report comes at a time when many expect Apple’s shipments to decline over the next few months. As per data from the report, it seems that Apple is expecting demand for iPhones to not decline further, a factor that it heavily suffered from in 2018. A sharp decline of demand in Greater China, coupled with the rise of competitive Android offerings and the US-China trade war severely impacted Apple’s iPhone sales, post which it even stopped declaring the exact number of units shipments. While Apple’s reason to investors for this decision was stated as the company no longer seeing its business as hardware-intrinsic and more involving the software too, there has been no denying of decline in iPhone sales.
Given the present market trend, it will be interesting to see if Apple actually manages to avoid the decline in iPhone sales in 2019. A decline in the innovation factor has often been cited as one of the reasons behind the decline in sales of the iPhone, coupled with the aspect of its high price no longer justifying the feature set on offer. While the exact numbers were not known for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR sales, estimates peg it at around the 75 million units mark, which imply that Apple is not expecting any drastic drop in sales in any market.
While the weak forecast in China may continue, Apple may increasingly shift its focus to emerging markets such as India, which may contribute a short growth in its hardware sales, given right sales strategies and corrective pricing. The Cupertino giant is slated to launch its new smartphones in about two months, which should give us a clearer picture of what to expect from the 2019 iPhones.