On Wednesday, a group of Morgan Stanley analysts said that tracking of air quality reports in Chinese cities suggested an increase in industrial activity tied to iPhone 12 production.
Apple investors are looking for clues as to how the production of the finished devices is going in order to better project sales in the coming quarters.
For Morgan Stanley, air quality is one such clue.
“Using air quality data from a non-profit platform that collects and publishes air quality data in China, we track nitrogen dioxide levels (controlling for temperature, humidity, wind, etc.), which, according to the European Space Agency, is a first-level indicator of industrial activity, in four Chinese cities where Apple’s manufacturing partners have a large manufacturing presence,” the analysts wrote…
“As of October 26th, air quality data from Zhengzhou, also known as ‘iPhone City,’ shows that industrial production levels have spiked higher recently, about a month later than historical seasonality, which we believe coincides with the ramp in iPhone 12 mass production,” Morgan Stanley analysts led by Katy Huberty wrote in a note this week.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, the annual iPhone production ramp is ongoing, albeit a bit delayed due to COVID-19 this year.