Very Little Buzz For Apple's IPhone X

(RTTNews) - Analysts have lowered projections for Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone X shipments in the first quarter of 2018, saying that demand for the premium device could come in below expectations.

According to analyst Zhang Bin of China-based Sinolink Securities Co., iPhone X shipments in the first quarter may be as low as 35 million units, down from the previously estimated 45 million units.

"After the first wave of demand has been fulfilled, the market now worries that the high price of the iPhone X may weaken demand in the first quarter," Zhang wrote in a report earlier this week.

New York-based JL Warren Capital LLC said in a note to clients last Friday that iPhone X shipments will fall to 25 million units in the first quarter of 2018 from 30 million units in the preceding fourth quarter, due to "weak demand because of the iPhone X's high price point and a lack of interesting innovations."

Taiwan's Economic Daily News also reported, citing unidentified sources, that Apple will cut its first-quarter sales outlook for the iPhone X to 30 million units from an initial plan of 50 million units. Apple has reportedly cut orders to its suppliers by 40 percent for the January-March 2018 period.

Further, Economic Daily News reported that Foxconn, one of Apple's main suppliers formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., has stropped recruiting workers at the company's iPhone X manufacturing hub in Zhengzhou, China.

Shares in several of Apple's Asian suppliers, including Genius Electronic Optical Co, Pegatron Corp., Lens Technology Co. and Largan Precision Co., fell for two days earlier this week following the news.

Apple's iPhone X went on sale in November at a base price of $999 in the U.S. The company has not publicly revealed its quarterly sales outlook for the flagship device.