Shares of Apple Inc. AAPL were trading lower by more than 2.5 percent ahead of Tuesday's market open after a concerning report from Taiwan's Economic Daily News.
What You Need To Know
Apple may have lowered its first quarter iPhone sales forecast from 50 million units to 30 million units, Bloomberg said, quoting the Economic Daily News. The report cited unidentified supply chain officials and also said that Apple's sole manufacturer for the iPhone X, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, is no longer recruiting new workers to assemble iPhone devices.
An Apple official declined to comment on the story, according to Bloomberg.
Zhang Bin, an analyst with Sinolink Securities, is projecting Apple's handset shipments could come in as low as 35 million units — 10 million less than previously estimated.
"After the first wave of demand has been fulfilled, the market now worries that the high price of the iPhone X may weaken demand in the first quarter," Bloomberg quoted Zhang as saying.
Why It's Important
The concerning report from Taiwan follows a rare downgrade from Wall Street. Nomura downgraded Apple's stock last week due to iPhone X concerns.
Needless to say, the combination of concerning reports from both Wall Street and the central hub of Apple's supply chain is reason enough to have some investors concerned.
What's Next?
Apple still has plenty of support from Wall Street analysts, but investors made it clear early Tuesday they are nevertheless concerned.
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Photo courtesy of Apple.
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