Apple “is being more conservative” when it comes to ordering chips from its supplier Advanced Semiconductor Engineering. There have been several rumors indicating that the 2016 iPhone, ‘iPhone 7’, will have smaller demand due to the lack of a larger design change (via Nikkei).
While Apple wasn’t specifically named during ASE’s shareholder meeting, they did mention a “big client in the U.S.” which one would assume is referencing Apple.
“The big client in the U.S. is a little more conservative when placing orders this year,” said Tien Wu, ASE’s chief operating officer, ahead of the company’s annual shareholder meeting.
“In the smartphone market, meanwhile, other players besides Apple are more aggressive regarding booking chips this year,” Wu said. But, he added, “I don’t think anybody is overly aggressive this year, so I don’t think there would be any serious inventory correction issue similar to last year.”
While we’re not expecting a major change in the design department, there’ll be some notable changes in this years iPhone. On the Plus model, we expect Apple to move to a dual-lens camera, and the smaller 4.7-inch will get some sort of camera upgrade as well.
On the leveled playing field, we expect Apple to redesign the antenna lines as well as get rid of the 3.5mm headphone jack and replace it with another speaker.
