Apple’s iPhone 15 series devices are displayed on the market at The Grove Apple retail store on release day in Los Angeles on Sept. 22, 2023.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Apple supplier and lead iPhone assembler Foxconn on Friday reported a revenue drop for the ultimate quarter of 2023 and said it expects a year-over-year decline in sales for its first quarter of 2024.
Foxconn revenue for the last three months of the yr totaled NT $1.85 trillion ($59.7 billion), a 5.4% dip from the year-ago period. Foxconn attributed the decrease to weak or flat sales in its computing products, smart consumer electronics products and cloud and networking products. The corporate’s December revenue also fell 27% yr over yr.
The outlook follows two downgrades to Apple stock earlier this week. Each firms pointed to softening iPhone sales.
“We’re still picking up weakness on iPhone volumes and blend, in addition to an absence of bounce-back in Macs, iPads and wearables,” Barclays analysts wrote in a note to investors Tuesday.
“The largest takeaway from the newest checks is incrementally worse IP15 data points out of China, along with developed markets remaining soft,” the note said, referring to the iPhone 15. The downgrade put a drag on shares of Foxconn and other Apple suppliers reminiscent of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on Tuesday.
Piper Sandler issued its downgrade Thursday. “We’re concerned about handset inventories getting into 1H24 and in addition feel that growth rates have peaked for unit sales,” Piper Sandler’s Harsh Kumar wrote, noting that he expects a recovery within the handset market sometime through the second half of 2024.
Shares of Apple are down about 6% because the start of the yr.
