A leading Apple analyst slashed his first-quarter iPhone sales projections by 10 percent
A TOP tech analyst has predicted that Apple could be hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, slashing his estimate for iPhone sales in the first quarter. Ming-Chi Kuo, known by some as the world’s leading Apple expert, said in an investor note that he would be lowering his prediction of Q1 iPhone sales by 10 percent. Kuo, an analyst for TFI Securities, a financial services group in the Asia-Pacific region, now expects the number of first-quarter iPhone sales to stand at between 36 and 40 million – in line with the first quarter of 2019, when Apple reportedly moved 38 million iPhones. Last year, the company stopped reporting unit sales of iPhones. Kuo added that it would be “difficult to predict” second-quarter shipments of iPhones due to the “uncertainties of the coronavirus epidemic and consumer confidence.” The analyst is not changing his earnings estimates on an Apple stock target price, but he did advise investors to “repay attention to the iPhone supply chain after the Coronavirus epidemic becomes stable.” Kuo had identified five potential risks to Apple that could be caused by the coronavirus. These risks included labor shortages and impacts to design schedules caused by travel restrictions. In response to the growing number of cases, the US declared a public health emergency and placed a temporary ban on those who had recently travelled to China.
Last week, insiders warned that the production of the cheap iPhone 9 could be halted until March because of the disease.