Apple is reportedly cutting down production of iPhone 12 mini by as much as 70% for the first half of 2021. A new report by Nikkei Asia claims that some suppliers may have been asked to stop making components of iPhone 12 mini. The iPhone 12 mini is the most affordable 5G-enabled iPhone that has the latest hardware. Initial estimates hinted that it would have been an instant hit but as per the report, Apple may have overestimated the demand for the iPhone 12 mini by a great margin.
Apple is said to be cutting down production of all iPhones in the new iPhone 12 range by up to 20%, however, the massive chunk of this 20% production cut mostly belongs to the iPhone 12 mini.
“This year is still not bad, but of course demand for the first half of 2021 is not as high as people were thinking at the end of last year,” sources told Nikkei Asia.
“Apple is now targeting production of around 75 million units — slightly higher than iPhone shipments in the same period last year,” the report added. Apple was looking at securing components for more than 100 million iPhones in the first half of 2021”.
Why people may not be buying the iPhone 12 mini
The report quoted Jeff Pu, a veteran smartphone analyst with GF Securities, that the reason for the low demand of iPhone 12 mini could be its small size. And for the same money buyers may just be more inclined to buy the iPhone 11 instead.
“Consumers won’t have that very strong feeling about the differences between core processors and about 5G wireless communication performance immediately, but they can immediately see the difference in screen size. If it’s around the same price, many consumers would rather just pick the older iPhone 11, which has a larger screen, as they don’t yet expect much from 5G,” said Pu in the report.
The report also cited battery life to be another issue with the iPhone 12 mini. “The battery for the iPhone 12 mini is much smaller than the older iPhone 11, which is about the same price, and it’s smaller than the battery in the iPhone 12, which is only $100 more expensive. … A 5G phone generally consumes more power, so consumers will be reluctant to buy a phone that, comparatively, does not have a good battery,” an analyst at Isaiah Research told Nikkei Asia.