What you need to know
- Apple is planning to make 220 million iPhones in 2022, according to a new report.
- That's about the same as last year and reflects a very challenging smartphone market.
- This is also well below the market prediction of 240 million.
A new report says that Apple is not planning to increase the number of iPhones it makes in 2022 over last year because of a very challenging smartphone market.
From Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. is planning to keep iPhone production roughly flat in 2022, a conservative stance as the year turns increasingly challenging for the smartphone industry.
Apple is reportedly asking suppliers for 220 million iPhone units, the same as last year. That includes Apple's new iPhone SE, its best iPhone the iPhone 13, and the upcoming iPhone 14 which is expected to be unveiled later this year.
The report says that this is quite a step down on the 240 million units predicted by market forecasts banking on a major update to the iPhone later this year, but cites "a difficult start to the year and production estimates" that are down across the board, as well as the worst inflation in decades and the war in Ukraine.
Apple has already warned shareholders it expects to miss out on $8 billion in revenue this quarter. The company has already started ramping up its recruitment drive for the next iPhone, asking manufacturers to start earlier than usual to try and beat potential supply chain issues caused by zero-COVID measures in China.
Despite this reports indicate that at least one iPhone 14 model could be in short supply at launch because of a production delay, according to a report on Wednesday.
