The iPhone 12 mini is in the news again, but not because of its small size. Sales of this model are not going as planned and the Asian supply chain is paying the price. Concretely, the assembler Pegatron, responsible for its manufacture, saw Apple’s demand for this terminal decrease.
An iPhone 12 mini with also “mini” sales
The iPhone 12 mini is the least-selling model of this generation, which isn’t the first time we’ve heard it. In the absence of known figures or official statements from Apple, various analysts have warned of lower user performance than expected. As collected in MacRumors and reflected in a DigiTimes report:
Pegatron has seen a reduction in orders for the smaller iPhone, with the coronavirus as the culprit and affecting demand in the United States and Europe.
Sources have pointed out that the iPhone 12 mini is primarily for consumers in the United States and Europe, but the sale of smartphones in general has been significantly affected by the pandemic.
According to the report, strong sales of the two iPhone 12 Pros in China prompted Apple to choose to cut production of the iPhone 12 mini in favor of these models. Along the way, Pegatron sees his orders reduced, while Foxconn, responsible for iPhone 12 Pro, benefited. This point reinforces what Morgan Stanley revealed a few days ago in a note to its investors.
DigiTimes indicates in the most recent report that Foxconn will see better numbers in its results this quarter. And, furthermore, it indicates that Huawei saw how these iPhone 12s took a “bite” to its sales, which suggests that Apple has grown at its expense in China.
The iPhone 12 mini is the 2020 model with the fewest sales in the United States
CIRP found that new iPhone 12 models (12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max and 12 mini) accounted for 56% of iPhone sales in the quarter. [último del año]. IPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro had the highest share for an individual model, at 17% each. The model combination resulted in a weighted average U.S. selling price of $ 873 for the quarter, compared to $ 809 for the December 2019 quarter.
Looking at the graph, we can try to determine the quota amount for the rest of the 2020 models. We know from CIRP that IPhone 12 and 12 Pro each have 17%. Also that the four models represent 56% of total sales. It is possible that the iPhone 12 Pro Max will have 15% of it and the remaining 7% will be kept by the iPhone 12 mini.
What is clear is that while we have the iPhone SE launched this year, the iPhone 12 mini is the one with the least share this quarter. And that the iPhone SE has been on the market for over six months. What seems clear is that Apple did not correctly estimate adoption that this terminal was going to be part of the target audience. On the other hand, users are opting for larger and more expensive models which will increase the company’s revenue.
While some voices believe this is a reason to believe that the iPhone 12 mini will be discontinued this year, the truth is, it’s still early days to consider it dead. At the shareholders’ conference on 27, analysts are surely asking questions about this model. Of course, a share of 7% should not be sneezed at, even though that represents a few million units sold.
