According to Nikkei, Apple has informed its suppliers that it plans to cut this year’s iPhone production by 20%, from 100 million units in 2017 to 80 million this year, following slower-than-expected sales of last year’s models.
The publication says that one of its supply chain sources commented, “Apple is quite conservative in terms of placing new orders for upcoming iPhones this year. For the three new models specifically, the total planned capacity could be up to 20% fewer than last year’s orders”.
Another of Nikkei’s sources also lent credence to recent rumours that the LCD model tipped for release in 2018 could launch later than its OLED brethren, due to production issues involving the device’s touch function and 3D sensing module.
One source said, “Two OLED models are likely to be ready roughly one month earlier than the cost-effective LCD model, according to the current plan,” while another commented, “The production yield for the LCD model’s ‘touch’ function is not satisfactory at the moment, but it is improving”.
