According to TrendForce, the production share of the two iPhone 14 Pro series has been increased from the initially planned 50% to 60%, and an upward adjustment to 65% is not ruled out in the future. Overall, the current share of new iPhone shipments in Apple remains at 36%, while the full-year iPhone shipment target for 2022 is 240 million units, up 2.8% year-on-year.
According to Tiburon Consulting, Apple’s production volume in the first quarter of 2023 is estimated to be revised down to 52 million units from the original 56 million units, a 14% year-on-year decline.
For the above results, Apple has actually made adjustments before. According to the supply chain, Apple has confirmed that it will cut orders for the iPhone 14 Plus model in a big way due to the overall market lull.
Industry insiders said that they have indeed received news that the iPhone 14 Plus will be drastically reduced in production, with the cut in orders reaching around 40%, and that other models will be used to make up for the shortfall in total shipments.
For this production cut, the supply chain said that Apple will not lose anything, but on the contrary will make a lot of money, because the demand for the Pro series is so strong that many foundries have shifted their production lines to the iPhone 14 Pro series.
With little or no major change in the total number of units, Apple is scaling back the production capacity of the 14 Plus to increase the 14 Pro series and thus gain more profit, which would be very helpful in increasing profits, after all, the latter is priced at around 10,000 yuan.
A person involved in Apple’s supply chain has revealed that Apple’s procurement team has re-evaluated demand for the Plus model and has asked at least one manufacturer to immediately stop producing parts for the iPhone 14 Plus. The person familiar with the matter also said that the two downstream suppliers responsible for assembling components for Apple have also cut production by 70 percent and 90 percent respectively.
