Apple Said to Warn Suppliers of Lower Parts Orders for New iPhone Models

Apple has asked its supply chain to manufacture about 20 percent fewer components for iPhones in the latter half of 2018, the Nikkei Asian Review on Friday cited industry sources as saying, sending the iPhone maker's stock down 2 percent.

Apple expects total shipments of iPhones to be launched this year to be 80 million, less than the 100 million shipments that Apple planned for around the same time last year, the financial newspaper said.

Shares of Apple, which usually launches iPhones in the second half of the year, fell 2.2 percent to $189.20 (roughly Rs. 12,800).

Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Cupertino firm earlier this week unveiled software upgrades that would let older iPhones run faster, help parents limit their children's screen time and make its Siri voice assistant work more like a rival feature from Amazon.com.

Taken together, the moves announced at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose amounted to focusing on keeping its base of 1.3 billion users satisfied with their devices and catching up with some competitors.

Apple faced a backlash late last year when it emerged that the company slowed down some older iPhones with flagging batteries. The latest version of Apple's operating system for the iPhone and iPad, iOS 12, will make older devices, such as the iPhone 6, work better.

Software chief Craig Federighi said iOS 12 could carry out simple tasks, such as opening apps, up to twice as fast as its predecessor, iOS 11. The new system will work on a range of products that date back to 2013.

© Thomson Reuters 2018