iPhone X Production

Apple plans to cut iPhone X production in half

     By Nicolas Vega

       Getty Images

The red-hot iPhone X is cooling off big time.

Apple has informed suppliers that it is cutting production targets for its flagship smartphone in half, according to the Japanese news service Nikkei.

The Silicon Valley giant had originally planned to crank out 40 million iPhone X units during the first three months of 2018, but has now slashed that number to 20 million.


The production cut was prompted by slower-than-expected sales in the holiday shopping season in Europe, the US and China, Nikkei reported, without citing a source.

Analysts have lowered their estimates for iPhone X shipments in the past few weeks, citing its nearly $1,000 price tag as a main factor for downgrading the stock.

A survey of people planning to buy the iPhone showed that the percentage of them looking to buy the iPhone X has dropped to 37 percent from 43 percent in an earlier survey, UBS analysts wrote in a note on Monday.

The reported production cuts arrive on the heels of rumors that Apple will be discontinuing the iPhone X when it unveils its next flagship phone next year.

Rather than keep the iPhone X as a cheaper option for customers — the same way they still sell the iPhone 7 and 6s — Apple will reportedly put the X out to pasture so as to not undercut the sales of their new model, according to the tech blog Mac Rumors.

In a research note last week, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote that a discounted iPhone X would impact the sales of the mid-tier iPhones Apple is expected to announce this fall.

The iPhone X, which features an edge-to-edge OLED screen, has been heralded by Apple CEO Tim Cook as “the future of the smartphone.”