Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares fell 4.10 percent to $165.72 in the last trading session after analysts at Morgan Stanley slashed their outlook for the iPhone shipments, increasing investors’ concerns about the company’s primary source of sales ahead of quarterly earnings next month.
Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty cut her estimate for iPhone shipments by 1 million for the quarter ended March and 6 million for the ongoing quarter. She has projected shipments of 210 million for the current fiscal year, down from a previous forecast of 217 million.
The revised forecast from the research firm came after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) projected sales for the current quarter nearly $1 billion below the consensus forecast, citing weakness at the very high end of the smartphone market. TSMC is a top supplier of chips to Apple, and its weaker-than-expected guidance has revived fears that Apple’s iPhone X sales may already be losing momentum just few months after its launch in November 2017.
Research firm, OTR Global LLC also weighed in on the Cupertino, California-based company saying the guidance of iPhone sales in China has declined for the second quarter of the current fiscal year amid stiff competition from Asian rivals.
Demand for new smartphone has decreased across the world. Market intelligence provider TrendForce said the smartphone market is experiencing slower growth, with total phone production predicted at 1.5 billion units for the current fiscal year, representing a growth of just 2.8 percent from 2017, and below 5 percent growth it previously projected.
Separately, an analyst at Mirabaud, Neil Campling said in an interview that iPhone X, carrying a price tag of $999, is quite expensive and customers are turning their backs on high-priced handsets.
Apple shares plummeted more than 7 percent in the last two trading session following the reports of declining iPhone X sales.
