Hardware

Apple reportedly readjusts iPhone 14 production targets after slow demand

Comment

iPhone 14 pro space black, iPhone 14 pro deep purple and iPhone 14 blue colored iPhones on a wooden surface
Image Credits: Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch

Apple’s new iPhone 14 lineup isn’t proving to be as popular as the company would have hoped for. So it is readjusting its production targets by cutting down additional orders for the device.

A report from Bloomberg notes that the Cupertino-based tech company produced around 90 million units in the second half of the last year. And while Apple initially asked its manufacturing partners to make 6 million more units for the second half of this year, it has now scaled back to produce devices in line with last year’s levels.

Apple’s iPhone 14 was merely an iterative update over the iPhone 13, while the iPhone 14 Pro received more significant upgrades. So Bloomberg’s report says that the company is seeing high demands for the Pro models, and is making more production capacity available for those higher-end models. Notably, the company’s new device in the lineup, the iPhone 14 Plus, will go on sale next month. And we’ll only get to know about sales response for that version a few weeks after general availability.

Last week, ITHome said Apple asked Foxconn to dismantle some of the iPhone 14’s production line due to slow demand, citing people in the know. Earlier this month, analyst Ming Chi-Kuo also said that the tech giant is looking to increase production for Pro models due to their increasing popularity over the regular model.

Apple also began to produce the iPhone 14 in India this week in order to shift some burden of manufacturing from factories in China. This is the first time the company is producing the latest iPhone model locally just weeks after the official launch. For some context, Apple began making iPhone 13 in India just this April.

A recent report published by JP Morgan suggested that Apple is looking to shift 25% of its iPhone production to India by 2025. It also noted that initially Indian factories will produce only iPhone 14 and 14 Plus models, and cover only 5% of the production supply for the company (1 million units per month).

Review of Apple’s iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro: They’re leaning into it

More TechCrunch

Redpanda has already integrated Benthos into its own service and has made it the core technology of its new Redpanda Connect service.

Redpanda acquires Benthos to expand its end-to-end streaming data platform

It’s a lofty goal to take on legacy payments infrastructure, however, Forward’s model has an advantage by shifting the economics back to SaaS companies.

Fintech startup Forward grabs $16M to take on Stripe, lead future of integrated payments

Fertility remains a pressing concern around the world — birthrates are down in many countries, and infertility rates (that is, the ability to conceive at all) are up. And given…

Rhea reaps $10M more led by Thiel

Microsoft, Meta, Intel, AMD and others have formed a new group to design next-gen interconnects for AI accelerator hardware.

Tech giants form an industry group to help develop next-gen AI chip components

With JioFinance, the Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani is making his boldest consumer-facing move yet into financial services.

Ambani’s Reliance fires opening salvo in fintech battle, launches JioFinance app

Salespeople live and die by commissions. It’s no surprise, then, that Salesforce paid a premium to buy a platform that simplifies managing commissions.

Filing shows Salesforce paid $419M to buy Spiff in February

YoLa Fresh works with over a thousand retailers across Morocco and records up to $1 million in gross merchandise volume.

YoLa Fresh, a GrubMarket for Morocco, digs up $7M to connect farmers with food sellers

Instagram is expanding the scope of its “Limits” tool specifically for teenagers that would let them restrict unwanted interactions with people.

Instagram now lets teens limit interactions to their ‘Close Friends’ group to combat harassment

Archer Aviation is partnering with ride-hailing and parking company Kakao Mobility to bring electric air taxi flights to South Korea starting in 2026, if the company can get its aircraft…

Archer, Kakao Mobility partner to bring electric air taxis to South Korea in 2026

Agritech company Iyris helps growers across eleven countries globally increase crop yields, reduce input costs, and extend growing seasons.

Iyris makes fresh produce easier to grow in difficult climates, raises $16M

Exactly.ai says it uses generative AI to help artists retain legal ownership of their art while being able to reproduce their designs faster and at scale.

Exactly.ai secures $4M to help artists use AI to scale up their output

FintechOS competes with other companies such as Ncino, Meridian Link, Abrigo and Backbase.

Romanian startup FintechOS raises $60M to help old banks fight back against neobanks

After two years of preparation and four delays over the past several months due to technical glitches, Indian space startup Agnikul has successfully launched its first sub-orbital test vehicle, powered…

India’s Agnikul launches 3D-printed rocket in sub-orbital test after initial delays

Struggling EV startup Fisker has laid off hundreds of employees in a bid to stay alive, as it continues to search for funding, a buyout or prepare for bankruptcy. Workers…

Fisker cuts hundreds of workers in bid to keep EV startup alive

Chinese EV manufacturers face a new challenge in their pursuit of U.S. customers: a new House bill that would limit or ban the introduction of their connected vehicles. The bill,…

Chinese EV makers, and their connected vehicles, targeted by new House bill

With the release of iOS 18 later this year, Apple may again borrow ideas third-party apps. This time it’s Arc that could be among those affected.

Is Apple planning to ‘sherlock’ Arc?

TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 will be in San Francisco on October 28–30, and we’re already excited! This is the startup world’s main event, and it’s where you’ll find the knowledge, tools…

Meet Visa, Mercury, Artisan, Golub Capital and more at TC Disrupt 2024

Featured Article

The women in AI making a difference

As a part of a multi-part series, TechCrunch is highlighting women innovators — from academics to policymakers —in the field of AI.

17 hours ago
The women in AI making a difference

Cadillac may seem a bit too traditional to hang its driving cap on EVs. And yet, that hasn’t stopped the GM brand from rolling out — or at least showing…

The Cadillac Optiq EV starts at $54,000 and is designed to hook young hipsters

Ifeel is being offered as part of an employer’s or insurance provider’s healthcare coverage.

Mental health insurance platform ifeel raises a $20 million Series B

Instead of opening the user’s actual browser or a WebView, Custom Tabs let users remain in their app while browsing.

Google Chrome becomes a ‘picture-in-picture’ app

Sanil Chawla remembers the meetings he had with countless artists in college. Those creatives were looking for one thing: sustainable economic infrastructure that could help them scale rather than drown…

Slingshot raises $2.2 million to provide financial services to artists

A startup called Firefly that’s tackling the thorny and growing issue of cloud asset management with an “infrastructure as code” solution has raised $23 million in funding. That comes on…

Firefly forges on after co-founder murdered by Hamas

Mistral, the French AI startup backed by Microsoft and valued at $6 billion, has released its first generative AI model for coding, dubbed Codestral. Like other code-generating models, Codestral is…

Mistral releases Codestral, its first generative AI model for code

Pinterest announced today that it is evolving its Creator Inclusion Fund to now be called the Pinterest Inclusion Fund. Pinterest teamed up with Shopify’s Build Black and Build Native programs…

Pinterest expands its Creator Fund to allow founders

Alex Taub, a longtime founder with multiple exits under his belt, believes it’s time to disrupt the meme industry. “I have this big thesis that meme tech is going to…

This founder says meme tech is the next big thing

Lux, the startup behind popular pro photography app Halide and others, is venturing into video with its latest app launch. On Wednesday, the company announced Kino, a new video capture app…

Kino is a new iPhone app for videographers from the makers of Halide

DevOps startup Harness has shown itself to be an ambitious company, building a broad platform of services while also dabbling in M&A when it made sense to fill in functionality.…

Harness snags Split.io as it goes all in on feature flags and experiments

Microsoft’s Copilot, a generative AI-powered tool that can generate text as well as answer specific questions, is now available as an in-app chatbot on Telegram, the instant messaging app.  Currently…

Microsoft’s Copilot is now on Telegram

HBO’s new documentary, “MoviePass, MovieCrash,” tells a story that many of us know about: how MoviePass, the subscription-based movie ticketing startup, was a catastrophic failure. After a series of mishaps…

MoviePass co-founders speak their truth in HBO’s new documentary