Apple is going stop production of iPhone 12 mini in Q3 2021: Report

Appleis expected to stop the production of the smallest flagship in the iPhone 12 series. The tech giant had earlier decreased the production of the mini version in favour of the more expensive variants. A new report now suggests that the iPhone 12 Mini may completely be taken off assembly lines.

On the other hand, the analyst increased the sales forecast for the iPhone 12 Pro max by 11 million units, iPhone 12 Pro by 2 million units and iPhone 11 by 8 million units. Yang also predicted that Apple will be increasing the production of the upcoming iPhone 13 series. The company is expected to produce 80 million to 90 million units of the next generation of iPhone 13 series devices, higher than the 76 million scheduled for the iPhone 12 series in the second half of 2020. Yang also claimed that Apple will not be launching any new iPhone SE model this year.

The iPhone 12 mini sports a 5.4-inch screen, which is much smaller than the 6.1-inch screen on the iPhone 12. There's no official information regarding the stoppage of production of the iPhone 12 mini.

An AppleInsider report quotes a forecast note by JP Morgan Chase. A supply chain analyst by the name William Yang claimed that the production of the iPhone 12 mini may stop in the second quarter of 2021. The analyst claimed that this was in view of weak demand for the smallest of the iPhones. Yang lowered the production volume of iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini by 9 million units and 11 million units, respectively, reports Apple Insider.

With smartphones slowly but surely reaching the 7-inch mark, there has been a vociferous call for smaller and compact phones.smaller and compact phones. Apple assessed the market sentiment and brought the second generation of iPhone SE (2020) and it sold in huge numbers. Inspired by its success, the Cupertino based company added the smaller variant to its main lineup and introduced the iPhone 12 mini.iPhone 12 mini.

However, according to a note to investors from William Yang, a JP Morgan supply chain analyst, the iPhone 12 mini has seen extremely weak demand which may result in the brand discontinuing its production by the second quarter of 2021.

As per the report, Yang believes that Apple may increase the production of iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max apart from iPhone 11 and cuts down the expectations of iPhone 12 and 12 mini. He revised the iPhone 12 Pro Max build numbers up by 11 million units; iPhone 12 Pro build numbers up by 2 million units; and iPhone 11 build numbers up by 8 million units.

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• This hints that the company may already have surplus units of the phone and hence may stop marketing or selling the iPhone 12 mini altogether and retrain its focus on the devices that are already doing good as well as the next-generation iPhones.

Additionally, he also predicts that the company may introduce four new smartphones in the second half of 2021 and suggests that while the supply chain is already working on the 3rd generation iPhone SE. Though the iPhone SE 3 is expected to only launch next year, not in 2021.

Coming back to the basic iPhones, he expected that these phones could come with improvements all over - improved battery life, better camera, and a smaller notch. According to the analyst, inspired by the good show by the iPhone 11, the company may come up with a low-cost variant based on the iPhone 11.

That said since Apple introduced the iPhone 12 mini, a lot of other brands are looking to come up with a compact version of their primary device equipped with premium specifications. Just today we came across a news that even Asus is looking to make a premium phone.

However, with Apple looking to make drastic changes to the plans, will other brands be in a position to do course correction? 

Picture courtesy Wikipedia

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