Apple rumored to cut iPhone 8 production in half following iPhone X launch

Reuters is reporting that an unnamed source told (Google Translate) Taiwan-based newspaper Economic Daily News that Apple is planning to cut iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus production by nearly fifty percent in November and December.

Apple’s shares fell 1.5 percent in premarket trading on Thursday.

“Analysts believe Apple is likely to focus more on iPhone X, which looks radically different with an edge-to-edge display, and will retail from $999, boosting its margins,” reads the report.

Apple no longer reports iPhone opening weekend sales, leaving us with mostly unreliable analyst estimates and supply chain checks. As an example, KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst John Vinh reported earlier this week that a carrier store survey suggested iPhone 7 was outselling iPhone 8 just a month after the latter’s launch.

Notably, the analyst based his conclusion on surveying a single carrier store, which is hardly representative of market trends. Deutsche Bank analysts, however, are not concerned about possible iPhone 8 production cuts.

“We think the market could have over-focused on the production swing in different SKUs, but overlooked that the overall iPhone production is largely on track,” they wrote. Apple is probably going to cut iPhone 8 production in order to shift manufacturing capacity toward iPhone X which, as you know, is scheduled to launch on November 3.