Apple Reportedly Cancels Upcoming iPhone Version

Reuters

KEY POINTS

Apple's supply chain has reportedly received instructions indicating canceled production plans
Apple's in-house baseband chip may not be up to par with Qualcomm's
The tech giant might continue to rely on Qualcomm Inc. for 5G chips in 2024

Apple Inc. has reportedly canceled the upcoming 2024 iPhone SE 4, one of its cheaper gadget lines, according to a tech analyst.

In a post on Saturday, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the company's supply chain received instructions from Apple indicating that production plans for the upcoming iPhone have been canceled. The TF International Securities analyst, however, did not cite any sources.

"Due to concerns that the performance of the in-house baseband chip may not be up to par with Qualcomm's, Apple initially planned to launch its baseband chip in 2024 and let the low-end iPhone SE 4 adopt it first, and decide whether to let the iPhone 16 use its baseband chip depending on the development status of iPhone SE," Kuo wrote.

This means that Apple will continue to rely on Qualcomm Inc. for 5G chips in 2024.

"The cancellation of the iPhone SE 4 has significantly increased the chances of Qualcomm remaining the exclusive supplier of baseband chips for the 2H24 new iPhone 16 series, which is better than the market consensus that Qualcomm will start losing iPhone orders in 2024," Kuo added.

The supposedly upcoming iPhone SE in 2024 was going to show, for the first time, Apple's own in-house 5G chip, Kuo said earlier, as quoted by Forbes.

While the Apple chip is already in development, it is still not ready for use, according to the report.

Kuo said Qualcomm will continue to dominate the global high-end mobile phone RF market in 2023 and 2024, leading to markedly higher profits than its competitors.

"The company's strong product mix, which confers competitive advantages, is expected to mitigate the negative impacts of the economic recession and allow Qualcomm to return to solid growth ahead of its competitors once the economy recovers."

Tech review site CNET, meanwhile, reported that Apple already saw declining preorders for the base iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus models in favor of the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max versions. This led to overall phone sales declining by 9.1% in 2022.