Apple’s new iPhone 14 is not as popular as anticipated and as a result, the tech giant has told its manufacturing partners to forgo making an additional six million handsets this year on top of the already 90 million units that were produced in 2021.
Sources familiar with the issue told Bloomberg that the weaker-than-expected demand is due to price increases for markets outside of the US and inflation, leading consumers to stick with their older iPhones instead of purchasing the latest model.
Scrapping plans to increase production is said to have caused Apple’s stock to drop Wednesday by 3.9 percent in premarket trading.
Users who did purchase the iPhone 14 have reported several issues with the handset, such as cellular connection issues, vibrating camera and the device randomly restraining while being charged.
Apple debuted the iPhone 14 on September 7 during its ‘Far Out’ event and although the exterior did not change, it included several new features that can detect when you are in a car crash, track ovulation and connect to satellite internet.
Apple is seeing a low demand for its new iPhone 14 and as result, is cutting production of the handset this year
The device starts at $799 in the US, similar to previous iPhones, but across the Atlantic, the handset is starting for more than $900.
However, the iPhone 14 Pro is a huge hit and dominated the first week of pre-orders, which may be due to the large upgrades included in the smartphone.
The Pro has a brighter display, which earned it best smartphone display, features a better camera with up to four times the resolution of its predecessor and the new Dynamic Island that uses dead space on the smartphone to house the selfie camera and Face ID.
JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee said in a note to clients last weekend: ‘IPhone demand remains quite elevated for the Pro models but weaker for the base models relative to a year ago, with 14 Pro and Pro Max lead times tracking in line to better than 13 Pro and Pro Max lead times, offset by shorter lead times for base models.’
Scrapping plans to increase production is said to have caused Apple’s stock to drop Wednesday by 3.9 percent in premarket trading
However, the iPhone 14 Pro is a huge hit and dominated the first week of pre-orders, which may be due to the large upgrades included in the smartphone
However, the same cannot be said for Apple’s iPhone 14.
Consumers who opted for the new smartphone have reported several issues – one being with cellular connection.
MacRumors forums include several reports discussing the problem.
‘I think it is something with the new iPhones. My signal is usually 1 to 2 bars at home with a 14 pro, but my brother is on my plan with an iPhone 13 and when he’s over he has all 4 bars. His 13 also gets much better speeds on 5G than I do currently. Hopefully it’s something an iOS update will fix,’ a user shared.
Another hiccup is the iPhone 14 randomly restarts when charging – this has only been reported by owners of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
No one knows what is causing the issue, but it happens with MagSafe and Lightning charging.
And the upgraded iPhone Pro camera is found to sometimes ‘rattle and shake.’
These problems, plus an increased price, may be enough to deter consumers from trading in their old iPhones for a new, more expensive version.
