The demand for the three newest iPhone models are not as high as expected, leading to Apple cutting the production orders for these iPhones.
Apparently the iPhone XR’s production has been reduced several times due to the lower-than-expected sales, whereas the iPhone Xs series has also been reduced but not as much as the iPhone XR. Apple’s stock also fell this month due to the lower sales number, in addition to Apple no longer revealing the device unit sales.
Despite that Apple is reducing the production of the new iPhones, many sees it as a strategy as it is better to sell fewer iPhones to earn profit than overproducing and causing loss. Similar to last year, despite the orders being cut by 20 million units, the iPhone X brought an 11% increase in revenue in the earlier earnings report this year, so Apple could be implementing the same strategy for this year’s iPhones.
We will only know how good or bad the sales have been for Apple during the first calendar quarter of 2019, but until then we are still expecting an increase in sales over the holidays, especially around Christmas.