According to Nikkei Asia, Apple is planning to reduce the production capacity of the new iPhone 12 mini. In addition, two new Apple laptops with Apple Silicon processors have been put on the production schedule.
According to reports, compared with last December, Apple is cutting about 20% of iPhone production orders. However, the iPhone 12 mini accounts for most of the reduction. The demand for the iPhone 12 mini is “far below Apple’s initial expectations“.
Apple’s initial goal is to guarantee the production of 96 million iPhones in the first half of 2021. This includes sales from the iPhone 12 series and older models such as iPhone 11 and iPhone SE. However, the company’s current goal 75 million iPhones. Of course, this is still slightly higher than the iPhone shipments in the same period last year.
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The demand for the iPhone 12 mini is so sluggish that Apple even asked some suppliers to temporarily stop producing special parts for this 5.4-inch mobile phone. A source told the Wall Street Journal that some parts of the iPhone 12 mini have been reassigned to the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Apple is focusing on the other three iPhone 12 models
Apple is still paying attention to the sales of the other three iPhone 12 models. The strong sales of these models helped Apple achieve a record $111.4 billion in the last quarter of last year. Although demand for the iPhone 12 mini may be lower than Apple’s initial expectations, the company will still release the iPhone 13 mini this year.
Furthermore, Apple has postponed the mass production plan of two new MacBooks from May or June to the second half of this year. In the report, Nikkei refers to these laptops as “MacBook”. However, it is likely to refer to the upcoming MacBook Pro series models.
There are still more than three months away from the second half of this year. Thus, Apple’s suppliers still have plenty of time to increase production in order to launch new products later this year.
In addition to Apple’s Silicon processor, Tianfeng International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts that the new MacBook Pro models will use Mini-LED backlit displays. They will also use new flat-edge designs on the top and bottom, HDMI ports, and SD card readers. The classic MagSafe will have a magnetic power cord. At the same time, physical function keys replace the Touch Bar.
