Right on cue, yet another misleading ‘Apple slashes iPhone production’ story from Nikkei

iPhone Air is the thinnest iPhone ever, delivering pro performance, amazing new camera systems on the front and back, and fantastic all-day battery life.
Everyone ought to realize that “channel checks” from Apple suppliers provide mostly useless information. Yet, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper regularly publishes reports claiming Apple is frantically cutting production of its latest iPhone due to weak sales. In reality, this is just Apple’s standard post-launch adjustment of the iPhone product mix — twisted to suppress a stock price that’s again surging to all-time highs.
Lauly Li and Cheng Ting-Fang for Nikkei Asia:
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Apple is drastically cutting iPhone Air production orders…

MacDailyNews Take: Ooh, “drastically cutting,” so scary!
Nikkei Asia continues:

…but boosting those for other iPhone 17 models as strong overall sales of the lineup defy the ongoing tariff war and sluggish smartphone market, Nikkei Asia has learned. The adjustment to production plans reflects both the lukewarm reception of the iPhone Air in markets outside of China as well as unexpectedly robust demand for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro models, with the result that Apple is sticking with its production forecast of 85 million to 90 million units for the lineup as a whole, according to multiple sources.

MacDailyNews Take: Oh, so it’s really nothing. But how is that going to talk down the stock?
Nikkei Asia continues:

Under the initial production plan, the iPhone Air accounted for roughly 10% to 15% of overall new iPhone production this year, said two sources familiar with the plan. The model is seen as strategically paving the way for the first foldable iPhone, expected to debut in 2026, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

MacDailyNews Take: Okay, so that’s the angle: Try to tie an iPhone Plus replacement to a rumored future foldable model in order to create doubt about future foldable iPhone sales. Hey, that might work a little. Cool, we’ll buy more AAPL at lower prices. Thanks!
Nikkei Asia continues:

Apple has told multiple suppliers to largely reduce component and electronics module orders for the iPhone Air, two people with direct knowledge of the situation said. One supply chain manager said production orders for the iPhone Air from November onward will be less than 10% of the volume compared with September. Another supplier executive said they received a similar notice from Apple.
“The total forecast has almost entered end-of-production mode, dropping significantly compared to earlier projections, to only about 10% fewer orders compared with September starting in November,” one of the component supplier managers said.

MacDailyNews Take: Alternate headline: “Apple is adjusting iPhone mix as they do every year at this time.” It’s a shocker, we know.
Nikkei Asia continues:

By contrast, demand for the iPhone 17 model and iPhone 17 Pro has exceeded expectations. Apple has increased production orders for the baseline iPhone 17 by about 5 million units and also added orders for the high-end iPhone 17 Pro, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter…
“Apple is the only client that has so far kept its production forecast for its latest series … Our other smartphone clients all face some decline [in unit terms] for 2025,” said an executive with a component supplier that serves all of the top five smartphone makers.
The top five makers, in addition to Apple, are Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo.
Overall production orders for the iPhone 17 are “stable and on track,” according to another supply chain executive. “It’s already a big relief, as most of us in the electronics supply chain are worried about globally weak macroeconomic conditions and the volatile tariff environment,” the executive said. “Apple has even asked us to prepare some additional components in case demand exceeds expectations.”

MacDailyNews Take: These two ham-handed Nikkei propagandist hacks have no idea how to talk down a stock. Just leave the good news out! Duh.
At least they buried it down low in the article, as they know that the lazy and/or mentally deficient only read headlines – and getting the first half of this headline disseminated – “Apple slashes iPhone Air production plans” – is the raison d’être for this article. For just two examples, see how it’s been picked up and headlined on Investing.com: “Apple slashes iPhone Air production after survey shows virtually no demand and on BGR, which is syndicated on the widely read Yahoo Finance: “Apple To Drastically Cut iPhone Air Production As Ultra-Thin Phones Fail To Catch On.”
It’s a scam to scare doofuses into selling. Smart investors will buy those shares.
Nikkei Asia continues:

A third supply chain executive said order adjustments for the overall iPhone 17 series are expected in the coming months, as Apple always makes such tweaks, “but the situation since the product launch is already good news for us.”
Apple launched the iPhone 17 series on Sept. 9 and started shipments on Sept. 19. One exception was the iPhone Air, which only went on sale in China last week after delays caused by Beijing’s strict rules on eSIM technology. The sales performance of iPhone Air in the first few days in China has been good, Nikkei Asia learned.

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MacDailyNews Take: We seen this movie so many times, we just thank the Nikkei rag for whatever buying opportunity it can generate, even though the “iPhone Mix Twist” gets weaker and weaker each time they try to gin up “bad news” for Apple as even mom and pop retail stock buyers are wising up.

This report (as with many of Nikkei’s Apple-related reports) smacks of a plant designed to depress the price of AAPL. Plain and simple. And Nikkei seems to be the preferred place to do it.
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to lose money in the stock market. History lesson below. — MacDailyNews, December 30, 2016
• Another January, another misleading iPhone supply cuts story from Nikkei – January 29, 2018
• Apple stock drops after Nikkei report of iPhone X production cut – January 29, 2018
• Reports of Apple cutting iPhone X orders make no sense – January 2, 2018
• Apple stock tumbles on one poorly-sourced report of low iPhone X demand – December 26, 2017
• Apple and suppliers shares drop on report of weak iPhone X demand – December 26, 2017
• Nikkei: Apple to decrease iPhone production 10% in first quarter of 2017 – December 30, 2016
• Nikkei proclaims ‘iPhone 7’ Dead On Arrival; bemoans Apple’s ‘lack of innovation’ – May 12, 2016
• Japan’s Nikkei, The Wall Street Journal blow it, get iPhone demand story all wrong – January 16, 2013
• Did Apple reduce 4-inch Retina display orders due to improving yields? – January 15, 2013
• Analysts: iPhone 5 demand ‘robust;’ ignore the non-news noise – January 15, 2013
• Apple iPhone suppliers decline on report orders cut by 50% – January 15, 2013
• Apple swoon erases $17 billion from stock market – January 14, 2013
• Apple iPhone 5 production cut signaling a new product release? – January 14, 2013
• Apple drops to 11-month low on old reports of component cuts – January 14, 2013
• The strange math of Apple’s alleged massive iPhone 5 component cuts – January 14, 2013
• UBS analysts: Apple iPhone component order reduction ‘old news’ – January 14, 2013
• Apple pulls down U.S. futures – January 14, 2013
• Apple shares drop below $500 after reported cuts in iPhone 5 parts orders – January 14, 2013

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