Apple slashes iPhone 8 production according to supply chain source

[William Gayde]

One of Apple's key supply chain sources in Taiwan has reported that the tech giant has cut orders for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus by about 50%. This drop will affect November and December orders. Following the announcement, Apple shares fell nearly 3%.

The CEO of Rogers Communication, Canada's largest mobile provider, called consumer demand for the devices "anemic." Verizon CFO Matt Ellis said there has definitely been a drop in sales compared to last year, but he expects a large jump when the iPhone X is released. AT&T said their third-quarter handset upgrades were down 900,000 units compared to last year. Analyst thoughts aside though, this is still the first time iPhone production has been reduced so early in the product life cycle.

There are two key reasons for why iPhone 8 sales have been sluggish. The first is that consumers don't see a big of enough difference from the previous generation iPhone 7 to warrant an upgrade. The other belief is that more customers than expected are holding off until the iPhone X is released. According to a carrier store survey, the iPhone 7 is currently outselling the iPhone 8.

These numbers don't necessarily show that Apple is struggling though since they earn even bigger margins on devices with higher internal storage capacity. As the iPhone X launch looms, many are still uncertain whether consumers will be willing to stomach the $999 starting price.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/71509-apple-slashes-iphone-8-production-according-supply-chain.html

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

"The first is that consumers don't see a big of enough difference from the previous generation iPhone 7 to warrant an upgrade".
Probably, but I'd like to think that a lot of consumers are finally coming to their senses and realizing upgrading annually is completely unnecessary.

 

[Sausagemeat]

An iPhone user and this doesn’t surprise me at all. We keep our phones for longer these days. I bought an 8plus but only because I dropped my 6S and simultaneously smashed the screen and damaged the antennae. If it were still working I’d still be on it, all my previous iPhones have lasted 3 years. I did actually try a Note 8 for a few days before the 8 plus, couldn’t handle the operating system, feels like Android hasn’t changed since 2012 for me.

 

[dispo]

An iPhone user and this doesn’t surprise me at all. We keep our phones for longer these days. I bought an 8plus but only because I dropped my 6S and simultaneously smashed the screen and damaged the antennae. If it were still working I’d still be on it, all my previous iPhones have lasted 3 years. I did actually try a Note 8 for a few days before the 8 plus, couldn’t handle the operating system, feels like Android hasn’t changed since 2012 for me.

I think it's a combination of this and the fact that most people I know that always seem to have the newest iPhone version (even when their previous generation is working fine) are all waiting for an iPhone X. But yeah, we're keeping phones and computers longer than ever before. I test drove a Galaxy S8+ recently and while I LOVED the screen, the weird fingerprint placement combined with the lack of iMessage which 99% of my colleagues and family use, made it a deal breaker. It's hard to convince people to use WhatsApp or Messenger when they already have that functionality built in to their native text messaging app.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I wonder if, in addition to people keeping devices longer and the demise of contracts paying for your phone, much of this could also be due to the iphone 7 and 8 not having a headphone jack. The 7 has been around long enough that more users have one, and the complaints have not stopped rolling in about the lack of a headphone jack. This may be influencing people to buy the 6s instead of the 8, now that friends/family members are complaining as opposed to "the internet".

 

[yRaz]

I wonder if, in addition to people keeping devices longer and the demise of contracts paying for your phone, much of this could also be due to the iphone 7 and 8 not having a headphone jack. The 7 has been around long enough that more users have one, and the complaints have not stopped rolling in about the lack of a headphone jack. This may be influencing people to buy the 6s instead of the 8, now that friends/family members are complaining as opposed to "the internet".

There are two things I REALLY hate about the lack of headphone jacks.

1)
The current bluetooth standard doesn't have enough bandwidth for high quality audio. As things stand now, the sound coming through a cable still sounds considerably better. Even with a new standard, there will still be 10's of millions of devices using the old standard for probably decades to come. Audio equipment doesn't really "expire" so people don't have a reason to throw it away unless it break

2)
This is more subjective to mycase, but if my home theater system costing several thousand dollars doesn't need blue tooth, I don't need it either.

4X JBL L-16's
2X JBL L-100's
2X JBL 4311's

Marantz 1122DC (L-16's)
Marantz 3800 preamp w/ 4X Marantz MA-500 200W monoblocks powering the L-100's and 4311's

 

[petert]

These numbers don't necessarily show that Apple is struggling though since they earn even bigger margins on devices with higher internal storage capacity. As the iPhone X launch looms, many are still uncertain whether consumers will be willing to stomach the $999 starting price.

They felt it and are panicking big time, trust me. Even if only a rumor, it is still enough to hurt them in their pocket - this is how the things are going in the industry. I guess even the Apple fanboys have their limits for what they would pay for that crap. I honestly hope the same happens to pixel 2 and other iphone clones.

 

[petert]

An iPhone user and this doesn’t surprise me at all. We keep our phones for longer these days. I bought an 8plus but only because I dropped my 6S and simultaneously smashed the screen and damaged the antennae. If it were still working I’d still be on it, all my previous iPhones have lasted 3 years. I did actually try a Note 8 for a few days before the 8 plus, couldn’t handle the operating system, feels like Android hasn’t changed since 2012 for me.

must have been the crappy UI samsung keep insisting punishing their customers with, the stock android is much better. But yeah, Android is shite, I am a long time Android user, will never switch to iphone, but I can totally appreciate having support for a phone for more than 2 years. Currently on nexus6p, and enjoying very much that bug brought by Nougat update in which the phone shuts down at 15-20% without warning - not a fan of suing, but I can totally see why Google was slapped with a court action. And shall I mention there are no decent Android tablets on the market? unless you count the ageing Nvidia K1, but thick bezels and crappy battery life are so 2007 ....

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

An iPhone user and this doesn’t surprise me at all. We keep our phones for longer these days. I bought an 8plus but only because I dropped my 6S and simultaneously smashed the screen and damaged the antennae. If it were still working I’d still be on it, all my previous iPhones have lasted 3 years. I did actually try a Note 8 for a few days before the 8 plus, couldn’t handle the operating system, feels like Android hasn’t changed since 2012 for me.

It doesn't need to change, it just works... Now where have I heard that???