iPhone X shipment forecast lowered: only 30 million to 35 million units are expected to be shipped in 2017

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo lowered his iPhone X shipment forecast in his latest report, predicting that only 30 million to 35 million units will be shipped this year.

Previously, Kuo Ming-chi expected iPhone X shipments to exceed 40 million this year, but in a recent report to investors, he lowered his previous shipment forecast and expected iPhone X shipments to be between 30 million and 35 million this year.

iPhone X is specially prepared by Apple for the tenth anniversary of the iPhone. It will start accepting pre-orders on October 27 and will be officially launched on November 3. Many Apple fans are also waiting for the launch of iPhone X because of its full-screen design, the first use of OLED screen, support for wireless charging and facial recognition.

In previous reports, Kuo Ming-Chi predicted that iPhone X pre-orders would reach 40 to 50 million units, while expected shipments would only be 30 to 35 million units, which means that 5 to 20 million users would not be able to use iPhone X before the end of the year.

Kuo Ming-Chi said in the report that the expected shipment volume of iPhone X was lowered mainly because of the problem with the TrueDepth camera, which is very important in supporting the facial recognition function, but is also very difficult to assemble.

However, Guo Mingchi also said that the problem with the original depth-sensing camera is only short-term. Apple and its suppliers will solve this problem in the next few months. By then, the production of iPhone X will be greatly improved, the supply will also increase, and the shipment volume of iPhone in 2018 and 2019 will also increase significantly.

In his report, Guo Mingchi also stated that Apple's advantages in TrueDepth Camera and Face ID are still obvious, and it may take the Android camp one and a half to two and a half years to catch up.

In previous reports, Kuo Ming-Chi predicted that iPhone X pre-orders would reach 40 to 50 million units, while expected shipments would only be 30 to 35 million units, which means that 5 to 20 million users would not be able to use iPhone X before the end of the year.