Supplier ASE says Apple 'conservative' on orders ahead of expected 'iPhone 7' launch

Apple has been a "little more conservative" when placing supplier orders in 2016, the COO of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering revealed on Tuesday.

"In the smartphone market, meanwhile, other players besides Apple are more aggressive regarding booking chips this year," Tien Wu added according to Nikkei. ASE is the world's biggest chip assembly and testing firm, and counts Apple as its largest client.

The executive suggested that the year's sales should improve quarter by quarter, while simultaneously refusing to speculate on whether orders in the second half of 2016 — or the complete year — would be stronger or weaker than those from the same timeframes in 2015. Nikkei earlier reported that Apple's Taiwanese suppliers, ASE among them, would receive smaller orders during 2H 2016.

Wu's comments support the view that Apple has been reining in iPhone orders in light of comparatively weak iPhone 6s/6s Plus sales. While the products are still Apple's main source of revenue, the company encountered its first year-over-year iPhone decline in the March quarter, and sales aren't expected to pick up until sometime after the launch of this fall's "iPhone 7."

Production of that device is already believed to be underway, which could mean that Apple is anticipating modest sales there too. Reports have indicated that the company is saving major upgrades until next year's iPhone, which could feature a curved OLED display with integrated camera and Touch ID components.

23 Comments

Ralph Askar 8 Years · 1 comment

About 8 years ago

Maybe its about time for Mr. Cook to bow down and resign swiftly. This company is all about innovation and understanding the market. He is proving none of it.

blastdoor 15 Years · 3594 comments

If the camera in this year's phone is a significant upgrade, then I think that could drive purchases regardless of physical design issues.

However.... removing the analog audio jack could dampen demand quite a bit unless they do it in a way that offers some pretty compelling benefits that exceed the costs of inconvenience from losing that jack. Personally, I hope they hold off on removing that jack until next year. It's better to do something like that when there are a whole bunch of positive new features being added to the product.

People talk about removing the floppy drive on the iMac, but here's the thing -- the iMac never had a floppy drive. The iMac was an exciting new design for the Mac. They didn't just rip the floppy drive out of a PowerMac 7600. That's what they'd be doing if they take a 6s, remove the mini-jack, and not much else.

TurboPGT 9 Years · 355 comments

blastdoor said:

If the camera in this year's phone is a significant upgrade, then I think that could drive purchases regardless of physical design issues.

However.... removing the analog audio jack could dampen demand quite a bit unless they do it in a way that offers some pretty compelling benefits that exceed the costs of inconvenience from losing that jack. Personally, I hope they hold off on removing that jack until next year. It's better to do something like that when there are a whole bunch of positive new features being added to the product.

People talk about removing the floppy drive on the iMac, but here's the thing -- the iMac never had a floppy drive. The iMac was an exciting new design for the Mac. They didn't just rip the floppy drive out of a PowerMac 7600. That's what they'd be doing if they take a 6s, remove the mini-jack, and not much else.

This is a very sound and reasoned argument. I hadn't thought of it like that, but this is true.

I have no qualms about removing the headphone jack, but there is definitely a difference in removing it from an otherwise unchanging product, and building a whole new product without it.

chasm 10 Years · 3626 comments

Ralph Askar said:

Maybe its about time for Mr. Cook to bow down and resign swiftly. This company is all about innovation and understanding the market. He is proving none of it.

What a completely witless remark. This is a claim from one parts supplier -- are you so dim that you imagine them to be a sole supplier? Cook has actually addressed your similarly short-sighted pundit crowd on this exact topic before, and said bluntly that one report from one supplier cannot provide an accurate view. Yet there you are. Come back and let us know what you've done in your life that has resulted in over $200B in the bank in the last four years. Or better yet, come back in a year and try to defend this post from the sales figures of the iPhone 7. My hope is that you'll learn something, but I'm probably overestimating you quite considerably.