“Apple has reportedly instructed component suppliers to withhold part of the component shipments prepared for the production of iPhone X devices, according to sources from Taiwan-based upstream component suppliers,” Aaron Lee and Steve Shen report for DigiTimes.
“Apple adopted the same strategy previously for iPhone 7 in 2016 during which initial shipments of parts and components reached only about 60% of the materials originally required by the vendor, noted the sources,” Lee and Shen report, “adding that Apple pulled in the remaining 40% of orders 1-2 months later.”
Lee and Shen report, Apple is waiting to see the pre-sale orders of the iPhone X as well as the sales performance of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus before pushing the production of iPhone X into full gear, said the sources.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: With Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing, too much of some components and not enough of others (TrueDepth camera assemblies) is not a good thing. Let the suppliers warehouse their own components rather than the assemblers.
SEE ALSO:
KGI: Apple iPhone X preorder demand may surpass 40-50 million units – September 25, 2017
MDN is correct in this case. I don’t think Apple is delaying production of iPhone X for any reason other than a shortage of one or more parts. No point in all the other components stacking up. Let them sit in their respective manufacturers’ warehouses until ready for use.
Manufacturers would be correct to charge a storage fee when the buyer is unwilling to accept the product when it’s ready as in this case.
You’re an iPhone supplier. You’ll store whatever Apple tells you to store and you’ll like it. They won’t be charging Apple jack shit.
Well, I did use the conditional but, yes, you are right since Apple is a dominant force in electronics and will be in AR so subcontractors are clamoring to be in the glow of its light.
As far as “jack shit” goes, however,…no one has yet defined that local vernacular to me yet. Sounds incindiary as if it’s actually supposed to mean something significant.
Dude… do you like, draw stuff? Lol at the narcissistic few who like to include ‘artist’ and ‘Dr’ in their anonymous social media posts.
You shall now address me as; THE ARTIST
Dear “THE ARTIST,”
Of course I “draw stuff.” I use Photoshop and traditional media and am not narcissistic. I am an Apple enthusiast instead and like to comment here. MDN is not social media per se. I am not anonymous.
Artist you may be, but I can assure you, you don’t know Jack Schmidt.
this article is mostly only relevant to aapl investors so I’ll comment regarding the stock (so flamers take note, if you’re a non investor skip my post).
the stock has fallen nearly 10% since launch of new products.
There has been pretty relentless negativity in the non tech press about Apple’s products:
Here’s just two MORE examples today:
Reuters:
“the weak turnout for the latest iPhone has partly been due to poor reviews.”
Bezinga quoting Apple Investor Toni Sacconaghi:
“the Apple Watch 3 has gotten bad reviews.”
etc.
. Note that SMALL things like the slip up with Face ID on stage and the LTE connectivity bug has GREAT impact. Like human relations first even fleeting IMPRESSIONS are very important.
(like bad breath on a first date — because you forgot to brush after your garlic lunch — is a small thing say compared to say global terrorism but for getting a second date it’s exploding Vesuvius. )
That’s why as an ex-marketing guy I pointed this out previously– non marketing techies and non investors who gave me one stars don’t really get how big this was. .
To correct these misconceptions means you have to pour huge amount of efforts (way larger than you would expect for the small slip ups).
But Apple is hardly doing anything.
One day after the launch Tim Cook was already at Bloomberg talking about his social issues. They discussed Climate Change etc . I read the transcript Tim Cook did not mention the new products AT ALL. I understand that perhaps Bloomberg had set the agenda but if so T.C should have postponed the conference, the most important thing in Apple’s biggest launch week of the year was to push the PRODUCTS, especially with presentation and review mistakes. T.C and his SVPs and VPs should be all over promoting the new stuff and correcting misconceptions in the days following but hardly anything. Meanwhile we get countless negative press articles (the view form outside MDN is completely different, i.e pretty down Apple).
When Amazon gets a bad quarter sometimes the stock goes UP as Bezos spends a lot of time ‘spinning’. He brings investors and reporters to see his new CONVEYOR BELTS or something and says “see I made NO PROFITS because I invested it in conveyor belts !” Spin, spin. And the stock shoots up. If Apple had Amzn’s PE valuation the stock would be over 1000 today. (I’m not saying aapl at 1000 is possible just by the investing cash in the world I’m just looking at the P.E.). When Elon Musk’s Tesla has a bad quarter he confidently tells reporters the stock will grow ten times…
Tim Cook is a great back ground manager and social warrior but the Steve Jobs MARKETING and PR magic is missing. (Remember Jobs used to Market while Woz created). Schiller marketing SVP is also a science and not marketing grad. Schiller , I like him, but he does no personal appearances as SVP marketing outside of launch. Apple leadership needs to learn to do marketing and PR at the highest level just like their products are (or should be) best in class.
Oh gawd! The same story EVERY YEAR!!!! “investors say”, “the stock has dropped”, “analysts caution”, “Apple did some that was not perfect, therefore the sky is falling”.
like I said in the FIRST PARAGRAPH if you’re not an investor don’t read the post.
(investing points of view are irrelevant to non investors so why are you so hot up? It does’t affect product quality for example… If you’re not an investor you have ‘no skin’ in the game. )
If you are an investor and you’re not pissed that apple doesn’t have the PE of its’ TECH PEERS say Google or Microsoft (I won’t even say Amazon here) then you are brain dead. If Apple had Google/Alphabets PE the stock would be way over 200 now. That’s the ” The same story EVERY YEAR!!!” — the PE has been like that for years.
Please also note I never said ““Apple did some that was not perfect, therefore the sky is falling”.
just the opposite;
Quote I even put it in Caps “Note that SMALL things like the slip up with Face ID”
I’m just saying Apple isn’t doing enough PR to correct the view
.. because the non MDN press IS saying the sky is falling for Apple.
PR costs practically nothing. If people think PR, Spin (like Tweets etc) is not important you should talk to some EX PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES for the last several elections and before.
@ Sean
re reading your post I’m not even sure if you’re just commenting on the analysts or my comments. So perhaps I’m wrong in criticizing you. I’ll leave it at that.
I hear you Davewrite. You make some valid points. But I still think that you are engaging in a bit of hyperbole.
Wall Street was going to manipulate AAPL anyway after its big run-up and the new iPhone release. They know that iPhone sales will be solid and profits will grow with increasing iPhone ASPs and Apple services and such, and that they can cash in once again on a short term dip.
I get it. I get the spin by Amazon and Google and others, and it doesn’t bother me because it can only last so long. Sooner or later, the emperor will either be wearing clothes or Bezos, et. al., will be explaining a huge stock crash and “conveyor belts” isn’t going to be good enough.
In parallel, Apple will continue to progress with great profits from great products and services, and I will continue to share in that success as a very minor Apple shareholder. Ain’t life grand!
i don’t really disagree with some of what you’re saying so i didn’t down vote
I note though that it’s been going for years. PE depressed etc.
And I don’t back down from saying (as an ex marketing guy) I notice PR etc deteriorating after Jobs. Go look back Jobs used to have cover stories on Time Newsweek etc with iMac IPhone etc. and everywhere he went it was product centered. (media has changed, Time etc no really relevant as much but Apple isn’t doing much with modern media either)
as a social liberal I’m not against gay/minority rights , environment .. etc or T.C’s commitmentments but he should ALSO do more marketing PR or at least his lieutenants. There should be similar passion for selling his products as social causes. (go count his speeches and see)
Negative spin CAN be defeated. Years ago RIM/Blackberry was a heavily manipulated stock, besides PR, RIM’S CEO complained to the SEC, the Canadian Government and filed lawsuits on particularly manipulative analysts. Manipulation stopped immediately, (NOT saying Apple do the same extent but at least the PR part which like i said costs near nothing)
Personally haven’t sold an apple share for years and I know about aapl manipulating (i remember years back even Cramer as a hedge fund manager made that infamous ‘fomenting’ manipulation video tutorial with apple as an example) but watching my portfolio drop six figures in a few days is unpleasant
As a moderately large Apple shareholder I do agree with your proposition that a more coordinated PR effort would be helpful regarding the PE. It seems clear, for better or worse that upper-level management does not really focus on the stock price and perhaps they shouldn’t. They continue to focus on making great products and this year set of launches is as strong as any since Steve Jobs return to Apple. However, I am starting to believe we need an effective “spin doctor“ to more effectively get the word out about the truth of Apple products. The truth will take care of the stock price.
I agree with most of what you have to say, except “…just like their products are (or should be) best in class.” The problem is the products introduced recently are NOT best in class:
1. The watch has the same design for years and is boring.
2. Many of my closest friends and family think the Apple Watch design is ugly. I’m sure others think the same.
3. The new watch doesn’t have additional biometric features.
4. The Apple TV doesn’t have world class gaming.
5. The Apple TV doesn’t have a camera to do FaceTime.
6. The Apple TV is priced significantly more than the competition.
7. The iPhone 8 is the same design as the iPhone 7 and similar to the 6. They could of done something to make it more appealing like make the top and bottom bezels half the size.
8. The iPhone 8 doesn’t have the best screen, but the price is still premium.
9. The iPhone 8 and X phones have a glass back, which is more fragile than aluminum.
10. The iPhone 8 and X phones don’t have 5G or extended LTE capabilities.
11. The iPhone 8 and X phones don’t have wireless charging at a distance.
12. The iPhone X is too expensive for many.
13. The iPhone X has a notch which covers content. It is highly doubtful that every website and app in the world will modify their code to accommodate the notch. This will lead to frustrated user experiences .
14. The iPhone X has a Face ID unlock which some people don’t want and others claim doesn’t work as good as Touch ID.
I’m sure I’ve missed a few issues, but the Apple many remember no longer exists. They have become worse than Microsoft: Apple’s products have become mediocre, and more expensive.
Samsung and Apple whom are/were the world leaders in electronics for many years screwed the pooch: Samsung with their exploding phones and corrupt leadership and Apple with their lack of product innovation and design flaws. Soon, it will be time for quality Chinese brands to dominate US, Canadian, Australian, etc. smartphone markets unless Apple quickly introduces new moat building products like smart glasses, foldable (pocketable) tablet/phones, etc.
What a troll.
Have you actually used any of these products or read detailed analyses of the underlying technology involved? Or are you one of those guys who actually thought the wraparound screen on the Samsung galaxy was “innovative.”
You are missing that investors are taking profits after months of gains >> normal stock adjustment. Savvy market players will now be planning their next buy in and….
AAPL is not Apple Inc.
I was super clear that “AAPL is not Apple Inc.” like ” It doesn’t affect product quality for example”. Like I said in the first paragraph if you’re not an investor don’t read or if you just a have a few bucks invested it’s irrelevant.
“normal stock adjustment” ? , OK but as I I’ve said numerous times above Apple’s PE has been depressed vs it’s tech peers for years. If this is ‘normal’, Apple leadership should work harder to correct it.
Goog/alphabet’s PE is 33 , aapl is 17. (if you don’t understand the significance of this you should’t post on my thread)
They spend 100 billion on stock buybacks, dividends but they spend so little time talking or selling their products. PR like social media is cheap.
Macs are Apple’s second largest hardware money maker, making TWICE Watch, TV, AirPods, Beats, iPod, accessories COMBINED yet we see ZERO Mac advertising, SVPs basically don’t even try to verbally sell them . (I’m just using Mac as a clear example, we see neglect in other segments as well )
Schiller or one his VPs (the ‘face of apple marketing) should going around talking up Apple everywhere : at games conferences, Mac User groups. Social media groups etc. It’s all missing.
As an ex marketing guy I almost tear my hair out as people diss marketing like social media as irrelevant … like I said you all should talk to some Ex Presidential Candidates.
The moment you said that you were going to quote Reuters, I knew what the tone of their article would be like. They have been consistently negative about Apple for more than ten years and have published some totally untrue stories about Apple too, with headlines that were entirely wrong, but repeated all around the world.
I’ve been investing in AAPL for many years and was following Apple very closely for a few years before I had the courage to put so much of my money into AAPL. I’ve seen some tremendous rises and scary falls and there is a frequently seen pattern to them. Whenever a new iPhone is released, there is a rush to find the downside and make it into the biggest issue that the world has ever seen. AAPL is negatively impacted for a few weeks and then sanity returns and people realise that the much-publicised downside turned out to be a storm in teacup ( antenna gate, bend gate, boring iteration of last year’s model, no headphone jack etc ).
With iPhone 8 series, the fuss is being made about the cost of replacing broken back panels and with iPhone X, the fuss is about them not being able to build enough. Once millions of customers have been using their iPhone 8 for a while, I’m sure that the number of broken rear panels will be insignificant and once iPhone X appears, the same people will find something to scare people about that model too, but it’s all going to blow over in time and Apple will remain on course making huge amounts of money by selling incredible numbers of high-end iPhones.
Don’t forget that the A11 bionic chip is so far ahead of it’s would be rivals that they’re unlikely to catch up for some time and the image processing in the new camera is far more sophisticated than anything else. Apple’s rivals can’t hope o beat Apple in that game and Apple is widening it’s lead, so rivals have to try and get the rug pulled from under Apple in some other way. The trouble is that we’ve heard it all before, we knew it was coming and we know it will settle down and it will all be happening again next time. Unfortunately there are a lot of people who never learn from history and who fall for the same nonsense every year.
Are you fracking kidding me? Every news organization is reporting short iPhone 8 lines because they suspect that everyone is waiting for the X and Apple decides to do this? If they are creating a fake supply problem and I can’t get my iPhone X until 2018…there’s gonna be a problem.😡
Apple can’t make the iPhone X if one of the component manufacturers are having production problem. What are you thinking? Apple didn’t “decide” to “create fake supply problems.” Delays harm Apple far more than any one individual waiting for their phone.
Cool your jets, dude. It would make no sense at all for Apple to intentionally cause a supply shortage. These are rumors, and they are always lacking in context.
Don’t blow a gasket. You can be certain that Apple needs as much production as possible during the first few months around product launch, even if it were somehow true that demand is lagging in comparison to the 6 or 7. Please do not buy into the blogger and analyst churn.
IF there are production issues or shortages of specific components that are slowing production rates, then you will find out very soon, because shipping dates will rapidly slip to the right.
I have been enduring Apple-bashing since my friends told me that I was wasting my money on an Apple ][+ because IBM was going to own the personal computer market forever. Well, Apple is now worth nearly a trillion dollars and almost all of the IBMers I know in the Austin area use Macs at home… and at work.
Most of the time, the company knows what it is doing. It does make mistakes, like failing to catch that locked-out iPhone X at the rollout and not catching the captive-WiFi glitch for Apple Watch. However, in both cases it IMMEDIATELY explained the issue and why it was not a real problem for users in the real world. They cannot force the press to print the explanations or to stop making unwarranted assumptions based on ignorance.
The lines are shorter this year. So what? Did anybody expect them (or the wait for delivery) to be longer when the introduction is being divided into two parts several weeks apart? The lines last year for the iPhone 7 would have been 40% shorter if it were introduced alone, and the lines for the 7+ would have been 33% shorter still if it were introduced three weeks later.
The reviews, as a whole, have not been “poor.” They have been very positive for the iPhone 8 and 8+, except for the observation that these are no longer the top of Apple’s range. So what, if they still beat the competition from other companies? The reviews have been very positive for Apple Watch, aside from a few reviewers who tried to use the watch as a replacement for iPhone, rather than a supplement. Even the Apple TV reviews have been fairly positive, given that the only real reason to upgrade is the ability to watch ultra-high-definition programming that was barely available during the review period (and completely unavailable without super-high-speed internet).
go read the two quotes from just a casual perusal ( like 10 minutes) of Apple news TODAY I copied and pasted in my first post i.e “due to poor reviews” etc. You say “every news organization” but I quoted one of the biggest Reuters which is news feed used by thousands of newspapers.
why do people pick fights when you don’t read my post carefully first.
so what is YOUR reason the stock is down 10% if not negative news and analysts.? The stock goes down because the news is POSITIVE?
oops i think i’ve posted on wrong thread
In my memory, Apple stock goes down on good news, and goes down on bad news. Weird, huh?
My impression is that AAPL rises in anticipation of good news, but temporally falls when that news is actually delivered. Bad news always depresses the stock, but it often seems to recover quite quickly after that happens.
That’s the principle that I use when trading AAPL to take advantage of short term stock manipulation, but I also have a lot of AAPL that I have held for many years.
Yep, Back when Apple was really a growth stock. They would report a record quarter. But, not quite as high as analysts wanted and the stock would go down. Another stock with a 100 PE wouldn’t lose as much for a quarter and it would go up 10 percent.
I’ve owned AAPL for a long time. It’s always the same. They come out with a new product. It’s talked down by analysts and there’s always an idiot that looks at the supply chain. Driving down the stock. It’s been shown over and over that looking at the supply chain isn’t a good predictor for Apple. Then, the new product comes out and sells out. Stock goes up.