Yesterday, analysts from JPMorgan Chase lowered Apple’s iPhone 13 sales forecasts for the key holiday season. The main reason for this reduction is the global chip supply shortages and the closure of Asian factories. JPMorgan Chase analysts reduce the iPhone 13 sales forecast for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2022. This actually refers to the fourth quarter of 2021. Its forecast reduces to $63 billion, a decrease of nearly 4% year-on-year. Analyst Samik Chatterjee predicts that Apple’s iPhone 13 sales in the second fiscal quarter will reach 58 million units. This is higher than the initial forecast of 55 million units.
Furthermore, he estimates that the iPhone 13 series can bring revenue of $46 billion. This is slightly higher than the $41 billion predicted by Wall Street analysts. Last week, Wall Street brokerage, Needham said that Apple’s total shipments of iPhone 13 in the first fiscal quarter are expected to reach 80 million. He also claims that the supply chain issues including chip shortages will cause a 10 million units reduction.
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Apple will reduce iPhone 13 production
A summary from data analysis agency, Refinitiv IBES, claims that Apple will sell 79.4 million iPhone 13 units in the first fiscal quarter of the fiscal year 2022. In addition, the company will also sell 45 million units in the second fiscal quarter. Apple has a huge purchasing power and long-term agreements with chip suppliers. These agreements have been protecting Apple from the effect of chip shortages. However, looking at the current trend, the company is now feeling the effect of chip shortages.
There were media reports last week that due to global chip supply shortages, Apple may cut iPhone 13 production by as much as 10 million units. Analysts say that consumers who want to buy iPhone 13 need to withstand the test of the longest waiting time in recent years. However, Apple upstream suppliers have since denied the production cut report. The suppliers claim that there is no cut in Apple’s orders so far this year.
Chatterjee said: “Relative to lower investor expectations, we continue to see strong consumer demand for iPhone 13 and 5G iPhone SE as a catalyst, despite the delay in meeting these demands due to supply constraints. But there is no change in scale.”
However, Apple previously stated that its two new MacBook Pro models with more powerful self-developed chips and the new AirPods 3 will begin shipping next week.
Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said that despite the chip shortage, Apple has announced hardware innovations for the holiday season, which shows that the company is demonstrating its supply chain strength.
