Apple boosting iPhone 7 component orders significantly ahead of the holiday quarter

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Unfazed by analyst reports predicting lower iPhone 7 sales this year versus the iPhone 6s in 2015, Apple is now reportedly increasing part and component orders for the handset, touch panel makers told Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes. Component orders for the holiday quarter are said to be 20-30 percent higher, according to Taiwan-based touch panel makers TPK Holding and General Interface Solution.

General Interface Solution, a subsidiary of Foxconn Electronics, is expected to see its revenues grow significantly in the fourth quarter. Sources estimate that iPhone 7 shipments will reach 80-84 million units in the second half of 2016, compared to 85-90 million iPhone 6s shipped in the latter half of 2015.

Many analysts believe that iPhone sales will decline about ten percent year-over-year, despite robust demand for the latest iPhone 7 handset family. The most reliable Apple analyst out there, Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, predicted fewer iPhone 7 sales than the iPhone 6s garnered in 2015.

Kuo’s report was shot down by Pipe Jaffray analysts and Tung Tzu-hsien, who is the CEO and Chairman of Apple manufacturing partner Pegatron.

Tung is “cautiously optimistic” about iPhone 7 sales and warned that “consumers do not care about what analysts say about the lack of innovative features”. He says the iPhone 7 is selling on the strength of the phone itself and does not expect Samsung’s Note 7 woes to boost Apple’s sales significantly.

“Our U.S. client’s new handsets (Apple iPhone 7) are competing against Samsung’s Galaxy S7 series rather than the Note 7,” he said.

Piper Jaffray analysts reiterated their position that the iPhone 7 sales cycle will bear more similarities to the monster iPhone 6 upgrade cycle, not the iPhone 6s.

Source: DigiTimes