Positive Foxconn Q4 guidance stems from strong iPhone 14 Pro demand

“Storming demand” for the higher-priced iPhone 14 Pro models brought a monthly sales record for Apple supplier Foxconn in September. The manufacturer is also “cautiously positive” for the fourth quarter of the year, as Apple might boost iPhone 14 production.

The report comes from CNBC, which reports that Foxconn’s revenue totaled $35.9 billion, up 40.4% year-on-year and 83.2% higher than August, with a monthly sales record for the company, thanks to the iPhone 14 series release – which, comparatively, was made available a week before the iPhone 13 launch last year.

The publication writes:

That massive revenue growth was driven by a “new product launch and smooth mass production” as well as strong performance of its smart consumer electronics products division, which includes its key smartphone business. Foxconn does not name its customers, including Apple, in its earnings releases.

Neil Shah, Counterpoint Research’s partner, said this was due to the “storming demand” for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. While Foxconn will still closely monitor inflation, the pandemic, and the supply chain, the manufacturer thinks the future looks bright.

iPhone 14 production controversy

With the iPhone 14 Pro models selling better than ever, analysts started to worry about the regular iPhone 14 version. Last week, a Bloomberg report claimed that Apple decided to “pull back” from an initial effort to boost this smartphone production by 6 million units.

With that, Apple would “only” produce 90 million iPhones throughout the rest of the year. This would come at a moment when the smartphone market is going to shrink substantially and Apple will stay flat. That said, it doesn’t seem Apple is worried about poor sales of the regular model.

Demand for higher-priced iPhone 14 Pro models is stronger than for the entry-level versions, according to some of the people. In at least one case, an Apple supplier is shifting production capacity from lower-priced iPhones to premium models, they added.

While we still have to wait until January 2023 to get the full picture of how the iPhone 14 is doing, the next earnings report will show how much early adopters decided to invest in the new iPhones.