What you need to know
- Recent reports indicated Apple was cutting orders for the supply of some devices.
- Notably, it was reportedly slashing iPhone SE and AirPods 3 production,
- A new report says that supply chain companies have yet to receive these revised orders.
A new report says that Apple's supply chain is yet to see any requests for revised orders, despite news Apple was slashing production of some of its devices.
A paywalled Digitimes report today states:
Apple has been said to be cutting orders of its 5G iPhone SE and AirPods in the second quarter, but Taiwan-based Apple supply chain companies have pointed out that they have yet to receive instructions from customers about revising orders...
The news follows reports from mutliple sources indicating that Apple was cutting back on production of its new best budget iPhone, the iPhone SE, and its most recent best true wireless earbuds the AirPods 3.
Nikkei Asia and Ming-Chi Kuo recently reported plans to cut production. Last month the former stated Apple was cutting iPhone SE production by 20% in the next quarter because of looming inflation and the Ukraine war, which it said was denting consumer demand for electronics. Ming-Chi Kuo similarly reported that iPhone SE demand was "lower than expected", slashing his 2022 shipment estimates from 25-30M down to just 15-20M.
Kuo further reported that Apple had cut its orders for its third-generation AirPods for both Q3 and Q2 by more than 30%. He says this is due to Apple's failed product segmentation strategy, which has seen the continued popularity of the previous generation of AirPods eat into sales of the newer version. As a result, Kuo predicted that Apple may discontinue its current AirPods Pro when it releases the new model to avoid the same thing happening again.
Bottom line: For what it's worth, the iPhone SE (2022) is a fantastic value if you're willing to make some sacrifices in features.
