Some analysts believe iPhone XR sales represent less than half of the sales of other 2018 iPhone models
iPhone XR, the most affordable iPhone in Apple's 2018 lineup, was launched last month alongside the premium iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. The iPhone XR went on sale just last week, on October 26, and is said to have sold around 9 million units in its opening weekend.
While this may seem like a big number, it fell short of an analyst's prediction of 10 million units. As a result, the analyst has revised the estimates for the production of the new iPhone models in November and December from 90 million units to 88 million. While one analyst has claimed that iPhone XR sales represent less than half of all iPhone models sold, they don't match iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max sales, another believes that iPhone XR sales will account for half of all iPhone models sold.
As per a report in ped30, analyst Jun Zhang of investment firm Rosenblatt Securities has claimed that the initial iPhone XR sales are weaker than expected and even weaker than iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max sales. He estimates that the global first weekend sales of the iPhone XR to be 9 million units, 1 million units lower than sales of the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max in the first weekend. Interestingly, compared to the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, the analyst says, the iPhone XR sales are better. However, Zhang added that the iPhone 8 Plus faced some constraints and a smaller sell-through base.
In terms of the revision of estimates, Zhang was quoted as saying, "We are trimming our iPhone Production and shipments by 6 million units for Q4. We previously modelled new iPhone production of 90-95 million units and shipments of 80-85 million units. We are revising our estimates to show new iPhone production of 88 million units and shipments of 76-77 million units for the second half of this year." He also added that for the March quarter, new iPhone production will drop 40 percent to 50 percent quarter over quarter. "We estimate 36-37 million units produced and 35-36 million units shipped in the March quarter," he said.
Meanwhile, Cowan analysts Karl Ackerman and Matthew Ramsey said that although there are some issues in display panel shipments, the production indicates that iPhone XR sales will account for half of all iPhones models sold. Notably, the firm has cited six different factors in support of this. They were quoted as saying, "Despite some noise this month on panel order shipments (e.g., panel cutting issues from JDI that have caused them to lower their shipment forecast; backlight module light leakage from Minebea; some assembly issues at Pegatron), we do not see a downward revision to the LCD model."
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