Apple takes a surprising "productivity" step on iPhone phones

Apple takes a surprising "productivity" step on iPhone phones

Apple, which cut its quarterly sales forecast last week, cut the planned production of three iPhone models by about 10 percent for the three months between January and March, the Nikkei Review said on Wednesday.

The slashing of the rare expectations was a sign of weak demand for iPhone in China, the world's largest smartphone market, where the slowing economy is affected by the trade war with the United States.

Many analysts and consumers say the price of the new iPhone is too high.

Apple said it had asked its suppliers late last month to produce smaller units than planned for its T-Mobile, T-MAX and T-MAX phones, Nikkei said, quoting informed sources.

Nikkei said the request was sent ahead of Apple's announcement to cut its forecast. The more pessimistic outlook on sales, which Apple attributed to China's weak demand, sparked widespread selling in global stock markets.

Canales, a market research firm, estimates shipments to China fell 12 percent last year and expects shipments of smartphones in 2019 to fall another 3 percent to less than 400 million phones for the first time since 2014.

The total volume of planned production for old and new iPhone phones is likely to be reduced to between 40 and 43 million units between January and March, from previous estimates of 47 to 48 million units, Nikkei said.