Inflation fueling rising costs for fuel, groceries, and other essentials in the U.S., Europe, and Asia has spurred concerns about lower consumer spending on technology, and Wall Street analysts are uncertain whether Apple can sell as many iPhones as it did last year.
Apple reports fiscal second-quarter results on Thursday.
“Demand is the focus, given the inflation pressure in United States, global and China’s economy uncertainties… Supply issue is important too, but it is more short term,” said Jeff Pu, an analyst at Haitong International Tech Research.
In China, the world’s largest smartphone consumer market, total industry phone shipments this year are expected to be 300 million units from about 325 million units last year, according to research provider Trendforce, which expects more deterioration as China’s economy takes a hit from strict COVID-19 curbs and the Ukraine war.
“When we sit here half a year from now, we’ll probably say that this was the quarter where there’s this new wave of headwinds that came in and shifted the market around,” Canalys analyst Runar Bjørhovde said. “It’s commencing a lot of challenges that will come up in the next few quarters.”
[Due to supply chain disruptions, Apple] prioritized manufacturing more expensive, high-margin products. Apple forecast that those supply issues would continue to decrease in its second quarter, another reason why analysts have shifted focus to the demand side.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple is expected to report all-time record revenue of $93.89 billion for its fiscal second quarter, according to Refinitiv. Analysts expect sales of iPhones to fall slightly to $47.88 billion.
As usual, we’ll have Apple’s results for you as soon as they are released, just check our homepage right around 1:30 p.m. PDT / 4:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 28th. We will follow that with live notes from Apple’s’ conference call starting at 2:00 p.m. PDT / 5:00 p.m. EDT on the 28th.
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Shop The Apple Store at Amazon.