Anzhou states that Apple is developing a set of wireless “EarPods”, the brand name for the company’s own iPhone earphones. Normally in cases like this it means that the product has reached its end of life. The most recent iPhone entrants that hit the market in September – the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus – were seen as improvements but not major design upgrades. Normally those would come out in October, but it has been rumoured that Jobs’ Mob is releasing them halfway through the year instead.
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The Nikkei report triggered concerns about slowing shipments of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus handsets; thereby causing Apple’s shared to plunge by almost 2.5 percent.
Shares in supply companies, including Asian screen manufacturers, also fell since the report was published, the Guardian reported. The news follows a series of developments that signal what could be the first marked decline in the consumer dominance of the Apple iPhone since its inception.
FBR Capital Markets analyst Eaves believe that Apple cutting the iPhone 6S production shows weak demand, although this has always been expected, but the magnitude of the cut is still worrying.
Officially called Hon Hai Precision Industry Company, Foxconn employed hundreds of thousands of workers in the province, and a subsidy of this kind suggested the government was concerned about the company’s ability to maintain its workforce, analysts said. A source says the assembler for Apple’s phones, Foxconn, will cut working hours instead of giving the usual overtime during the week-long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday.
“I think we’re more than likely experiencing some supply chain hiccups and component vendor switching”, said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. Apple did not respond to a request for comment from the Monitor. Production is expected to return to normal in the April-June quarter.
A staff member stands beneath Apple’s logo at an apple store in Beijing, November 2, 2015.
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Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported that Apple told suppliers it will reduce output of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus by around 30% this quarter. A new report from a reputable publication claims that Apple has started slowing down iPhone production because it possibly anticipates low sales this time around as opposed to a year ago. On average, they expect Apple to increase revenue this year by less than 4 percent, a far cry from the 28 percent achieved in the business year that ended in September.
