Apple has significantly lowered its demand expectations for the standard iPhone 17 due to rising hardware costs, a Chinese leaker claimed today.
According to the “Fixed Focus Digital” account on Weibo, some production lines for the standard iPhone 17 moved this week from a previous 15 percent reduction to plans to suspend about a third of their capacity. The leaker also claimed that Apple has conducted a “very serious” internal assessment of the impact that higher hardware costs could have on demand.
The claims cannot be independently verified, plus the post does not say whether the production adjustments apply to overall iPhone 17 production or just certain manufacturing lines, so caution is advised.
Higher component costs are impacting the electronics industry around the world due to intense demand from artificial intelligence companies trying to maximize data center builds, and Apple is far from immune.
The doubling of the cost of memory and storage chips over the past year recently led Apple to raise prices across multiple product lines, which CEO Tim Cook called “inevitable.” iPhones have so far been spared increases, but Apple is expected to use the debut of the iPhone 18 Pro models in September as an opportunity to increase prices across its entire smartphone lineup.
Apple is expected to unveil a next-generation iPhone 18 model next spring alongside a new iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2, as part of a new split launch strategy.
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