Apple is allegedly slashing its production orders for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus by roughly 50 percent for November and December, which if true could be the earliest such cut in the iPhone’s history.
The claim was made by supply chain official cited by Taiwan’s Economic Daily News. Reuters later noted that the rumor may have triggered a 1.5 percent drop in Apple’s stock price in pre-market trading.
Such a severe production cut less than two months into the iPhone 8 cycle is unlikely, given Apple’s typically conservative production planning, but not impossible. Launch demand for the iPhone 8 may not have been weak, but also saw much shorter lineups at some stores. U.S. online orders are currently shipping between Oct. 25 and Nov. 2, depending on the model —a far cry from the delays some past iPhone rollouts have seen.
