Apple Inc. AAPL has cut its planned production of the iPhone 12 mini for the first half of 2021 by more than 70% due to lower than expected demand, Nikkei Asia reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
What Happened: The tech giant is also cutting orders for all iPhones for the first half of the year by around 20% compared to its plans in December last year, mainly due to reduced demand for the iPhone 12 mini model, according to the report. The iPhone 12 mini is Apple’s cheapest 5G-enabled model.
Apple is now reportedly targeting production of about 75 million units, slightly higher than iPhone shipments in the same period last year. Late last year, the company had asked suppliers to secure components for up to 96 million handsets for the first six months of 2021.
However, Apple still plans to build 230 million iPhones for 2021, which represents an increase of more than 11% from last year, as per the report.
See Also: Apple Takes No. 1 Spot In Global Smartphone Market in Q4: Report
Why It Matters: The 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini model is a smaller version of the regular iPhone 12 model and retails for around $699.
While the iPhone 12 models have been successful for Apple and helped the tech giant to report better-than-expected first-quarter results earlier this year, the smaller screen size and battery of the iPhone 12 mini are seen as drawbacks for a 5G phone that usually consumes more power.
As a result, consumers are shifting to either the older iPhone 11 or the larger iPhone 12.
Price Action: Apple shares closed 0.9% lower on Wednesday at $119.98.
Read Next: Apple iPhone Will Feature ‘Unibody’ Design In 2022, ‘Periscope Lens’ in 2023: Analyst
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