Lens maker Sony doesn't expect high demand for the iPhone 15

iPhone 14 Pro camera

Apple lens supplier Sony says the worldwide economic downturn means there won't be as much demand for the iPhone 15 as it expected.

So far this year, Apple has seen lower than normal iPhone sales — but made up for it through its Services earnings — but it still has the iPhone 15 launch to come. Sony had previously said that it expected to see a recovery in its smartphone sensor business during the second half of 2023, but now says it will be 2024, at least.

According to Bloomberg, Sony announced this during its latest earnings call, and chiefly blames the decline on a lack of sales in China.

"The recovery of the smartphone market in China is slower than we expected and conditions in the US market are worsening," said Sadahiko Hayakawa, a senior general manager for finance. "We had expected the smartphone market to start recovering from the second half of this fiscal year, but now we expect that would not happen until at least the next year."

Seemingly, Sony did not mention the iPhone 15 by name, but it is the major smartphone launch scheduled for the remainder of 2023. It suggests that Apple is not predicting a significant increase in demand over the iPhone 14 range, however, it could also be that Sony's manufacturing capacity is constrained.

Sony's predictions for the future, though, do match analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's recent report that iPhone 15 demand will be lower than for its predecessor.

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11 Comments

mayfly 385 comments · 1 Year

About 8 months ago

If they're the ones making the lenses, it's pretty apparent that they KNOW exactly how many Apple expects to sell, based on pre-orders, no?

fred1 1112 comments · 11 Years

Good. Maybe this means they’ll be nice and cheap. One can wish, no?

gmgravytrain 882 comments · 8 Years

In a recent earnings report, Apple warned of weak iPhone sales for the remainder of the year, so this news isn't unexpected. I'm surprised Apple hasn't sold off further. Shareholders absolutely hate hearing that sort of news. They seem to think that no matter how bad the economy is, a company should manage to sell as many products as when the economy is strong. I suppose they'll just have to find a company that isn't affected by the economic downturn. I'm sure there are a few out there. Apple is too dependent upon consumers and should be attempting to get more sales from enterprise companies.

danox 2878 comments · 11 Years

Nonsense, if it’s a step forward, people will buy, and when it is introduced if you press that buy button at 12:30 AM you won’t be getting that new Apple smartphone for two months, but if you buy at 12:01 you might get it in two weeks your choice. The same scenario will play out with the Apple Vision Pro to those who will hesitate, and then cry about their entitlement when they can’t get immediate gratification.

This scenario has played out the same way since 2007……..

chadbag 2000 comments · 13 Years

gmgravytrain said:

Apple is too dependent upon consumers and should be attempting to get more sales from enterprise companies.

Apple makes a lot of effort to go after the enterprise business with their non Mac lines. There (Mac) I don’t have much info. But the company I work for makes an iOS and an Android version of our apps, which are not at all consumer oriented (you need expensive server backends and it is healthcare service oriented). Apple tries to get us to do exclusives or bid with us on deals and is heavily involved in this sector and getting customers on the iOS bandwagon. If they can sell 500 or 5000 phones in one sale to a customer adopting or upgrading their installation, that is a big win. And they spend effort on it. You don’t see the effort because things like social media, sorts events, TV etc based advertising is not how that sector works.