According to a report recently published by Economic Daily News, the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus may be in danger of undergoing production cuts, possibly by half, in the next couple of months because of the iPhone X. If this turns out be true, then it would mark the soonest that Apple has ever cut production of a brand new iPhone model. In the case of this year’s iPhone 8 devices, they have only been out in the market for about a month’s time.
With demand for the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus not particularly mind blowing, the general thinking is that most of those consumers who have decided to either upgrade their existing iPhone to a new model, or those looking to become iPhone owners for the first time, are more likely to go for the iPhone X, which admittedly has the better specs as compared to the iPhone 8 models, and is slated to hit store shelves everywhere by November 3rd of next month.
We are not used to having a new iPhone model underperform in terms of sales, but it appears that the iPhone 8 devices are just not selling as much, at least when compared to previous iPhone releases. As a matter of fact, numerous recent reports already point out that last year’s iPhone offerings, the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, are outselling this year’s iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. Just this week, a Reuters report indicated that Apple’s shares have dipped as low as 2.6 percent, and there is speculation that it may have something to do with the less than stellar sales of the iPhone 8 models.
Interestingly, if all that buyer attention is focused on the soon to be launched iPhone X, it might spell a bit of trouble for Apple, especially if it can not keep up with the demand. Less than a month ago, there were reports that the 3D sensor that is used on the iPhone X’s Face ID feature appears to be going through some production issues. Due to these said issues, the manufacturing partners of Apple are having a hard time building enough iPhone X units in time. It goes without saying that if there are production delays, they could significantly impact the tech giant’s ability to meet demand, at least for the first few orders. Despite that, the iPhone X is still viewed by many industry watchers as the catalyst that will drive growth in the smartphone industry for the first time since 2015.
