Four iPhone suppliers lower sales expectations

Four suppliers of components of the Apple iPhone have lowered their revenue forecast this week. That indicates that Apple is producing fewer iPhones than it first expected, financial news agency Bloomberg speculates.

The most recent company to lower its revenue forecast is Austria’s AMS, which manufactures light sensors and has Apple as its largest customer, Bloomberg said. Qorvo, Lumentum and Japan Display have already done the same. Qorvo makes chips for wireless communication, such as envelope trackers. Lumentum makes an infrared laser for Face ID, while Japan Display supplies the LCDs for the iPhone XR.

More often than not, suppliers are so dependent on Apple for revenue that a cut in expected production of iPhones triggers a revenue warning. The fact that four companies are adjusting their revenue forecast within a week indicates that it concerns an adjustment in the production of iPhones, Bloomberg thinks. Apple itself has not said anything about this. The iPhone XR has been on the market for several weeks; the XS and XS Max came out in September.

It will be difficult to control how the demand for iPhones will develop, because Apple has decided to keep the figures on the number of copies delivered secret from now on. From now on, Apple will only show sales per product category.