Apple iPhone XR production boost gets cancelled

With the demand slower than expected, Apple has directed its top phone assemblers, Foxconn and Pegatron to halt the planned production boost of iPhone XR. The new iPhone XR is relatively the cost-effective model that made its way in the market last month.

Citing anonymous sources, the Japanese financial paper Nikkei reported on Monday that Foxconn, a Taiwan-based company, would be producing around 100,000 lesser units considering the new demand outlook, which is 20-25 percent down from what was outlooked.

"For the Foxconn side, it first prepared nearly 60 assembly lines for Apple's XR model, but recently uses only around 45 production lines as its top customer said it does not need to manufacture that many by now," a source told Nikkei.

Fellow Taiwanese manufacturer Pegatron is also suspending plans to ramp up production, the report said.

iPhone XR debuted alongside the iPhone XS and top-of-the-line XS Max.

While the demand for iPhone XR appears to have not met Apple's expectations, the Cupertino, California-headquartered tech giant is requesting more of the older iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus models, which are up to 20 per cent cheaper than the XR's starting price of $749.