Owing to weak demand for the iPhone XR, Apple has asked its manufacturing partners Foxconn and Pegatron to suspend plans for additional production lines dedicated to the iPhone XR.
The Cupertino-based iPhone maker has also told comparatively smaller iPhone assembler Wistron to stand by for rush orders.
"For the Foxconn side, it first prepared nearly 60 assembly lines for Apple's XR model, but recently uses only around 45 production lines as its top customer said it does not need to manufacture that many by now," a report in the Nikkei Asian Review has said.
The reduction would mean Foxconn would produce around 100,000 fewer units per day, which is between 20-25 per cent lower than the "original optimistic outlook,” the report added.
While the iPhone XR orders are declining, Apple is apparently asking for more iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus handsets to be produced.
According to Nikkei Asian Review, suppliers of iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are getting a combined order of around five million more units. Previously set for 20 million units, this now brings the total orders to Foxconn and Pegatron for both older models up to 25 million units.
And to quickly adjust orders to match the market, Apple is now said to be reviewing the demand for iPhones on a weekly basis.
This is not the first-time Apple has asked its assembling partners to halt supplies. Five years ago, Apple cut production orders for its plastic-backed iPhone 5C a month after its launch, due to poor demand in the market.
In September, Apple launched the low-cost iPhone XR, made of aluminium, along with two other models, the XS and XS Max. The iPhone XR supports gestures like tap to wake, swipe up to the home screen, swipe down to access notifications and the Control Centre and the new haptic touch feature for pressing on the home screen to instantly launch the camera or flashlight.
