We will see many more Apple‘s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones next year as the company apparently plans to ramp up production.
On Tuesday, Nikkei Asia reported that the powerful technology company aims to produce as many as 96 million of its signature phones in the first half of next year. The sources mentioned were ‘several people familiar with the case’. If their numbers are correct, this would amount to a production increase of almost 30% year on year.
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According to the article’s sources, the dramatic increase is due to a surge in demand for the company’s enduringly popular handsets due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many people around the world are using their phones more thanks to mandatory or self-imposed lockdown regulations that keep them in place and prompt them to find avenues for entertainment or communication.
The increase in production would encompass more than just Apple’s recently launched iPhone 12 line. According to the article’s sources, the company would also produce the older iPhone 11 and SE models in this round of production, presumably to meet increased demand from more budget-minded consumers.
Per Nikkei, a preliminary full-year forecast that Apple has provided to its suppliers, suggests it is aiming for a total production of a whopping 230 million iPhones by 2021. If this is achieved, that number would be 20% higher than in 2019 .
If the vast majority of those handsets were shipped, it would reverse a recent trend for Apple. In both 2018 and 2019, the total number of smartphone shipments decreased compared to previous years. Even in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, that measure was on the decline: shipments in the first nine months of 2020 were down 1% per year in the first nine months of 2020.