Citi cuts Q1 iPhone production estimates

“Citi Research on Friday slashed its first-quarter production estimates for Apple Inc’s iPhones and nearly halved expectations on the costliest iPhone XS Max, joining other brokerages in lowering forecast amid reports of weak demand,” Reuters reports. “‘The material cut in our forecasts is driven by our view that 2018 iPhone is entering a destocking phase, which does not bode well for the supply chain,’ analyst William Yang wrote in a client note.”
“Citi said it expects the company to make 45 million iPhones for the quarter, down from 50 million it forecast earlier,” Reuters reports.
“The cut was mainly due to weak outlook for the iPhone XS Max, analyst William Yang said in a research note,” Reuters reports. “The brokerage lowered its forecast for the iPhone XS Max, which starts at $1,099, by 48 percent.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Based on speculation and poorly-sourced reports out of Asia which were then amplified in the online echo chamber, yet another lemming joins the party of cutting iPhone unit sales estimates for which they will never get verification from Apple pro or con. TV weather people have more accountability than Wall Street analysts.
We estimate eleventy gazillion iPhone units sales in 2019 and umpteen bazillion in 2020. And we’ll be just as right as every other so-called analyst, too, since Apple no longer reports unit sales. — MacDailyNews, November 29, 2018
90-day iPhone unit sales totals don’t matter, dummies.
When the lemmings, er… “analysts” start their upgrade parade, then you’ll know the bottom has been found. – MacDailyNews, November 26, 2018
In fiscal year 2018, Apple’s revenue grew over $36 billion to $265.6 billion. For the current quarter, Apple has guided for revenue between $89 billion and $93 billion, a new all-time record. (That’s revenue of roughly $1 billion — with a “B“ — per day.)
When analysts learn to see without the unit share blinders Apple has just removed, hopefully their eyes won’t pop out of their heads when they finally see those huge numbers and realize how very much more is to come. — MacDailyNews, November 28, 2018