In a surprising and quite unexpected move announced by Business Insider, California-based tech giant Apple Inc. will reduce its planned production for its three latest iPhone models by roughly 10%.
The purported reduction will apparently be done from January to March of this year, according to the Nikkei Asian review. Some have suggested that Apple may need to lower the price of its “overpriced” iPhones. Nevertheless, Apple has already asked its suppliers in December to reduce production for Q1 this year.
While many are speculating that the reduction is due to the iPhone X- models being a flop, the truth, at least based on what the company itself is saying, is more complex than that. China is the world’s biggest smartphone market and unfortunately for Apple, things haven’t been going so well between the former and the US.
Not to mention, China has also been strengthening its local smartphone brands, which means that Apple is now going up against cheaper and similarly specced models from rival Chinese brands such as Xiaomi and Huawei. In fact, last year, Xiaomi managed to displace Apple from its second place in the Chinese smartphone market while Samsung remains at the top spot.
