Things are not looking up on the iPhone sales front.
Citing unnamed "people familiar with the matter," Nikkei on Monday reported that iPhone shipments are expected to total 210 to 220 million this year, "falling as much as 8.6 percent from 2015" thanks to less-than-stellar demand for a new model. Nikkei's source said that Terry Gou, chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry (aka Foxconn, one of Apple's biggest suppliers) told his staff that iPhone demand will "remain feeble until at least early next year."
If this comes to pass, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise. Apple in April posted its first-ever year-over-year decline in iPhone sales, and first revenue drop in 13 years. Apple sold 51.2 million smartphones in the most recent quarter, down from 74.7 million in the previous quarter and a 16 percent drop from the same time last year when it sold 61 million iPhones.
Meanwhile, Cupertino logged its first quarterly decline in smartphone sales during the 2015 holiday season, according to Gartner. iPhone sales were down 4.4 percent during the last three months of the year compared to the same time period a year earlier (71.5 million iPhones sold versus 74.8 million).
Looking forward, a report last week revealed that future iPhones destined for use on the AT&T network and those of overseas carriers will use Intel chips. Other iPhone versions, including those for sale in China, will continue to use chips from rival Qualcomm.
Other rumors indicate that Apple's next iPhone could be waterproof, have an AMOLED display, and ditch its headphone jack. It may also look substantially different from the iPhone 6s.