iPhone 5s May Be In Short Supply Due to 'Terrible' Production Yields

The new Apple iPhone 5s may be in very short supply when it launches on September 20th due to 'terrible' production yields on the fingerprint scanner, says Jefferies analyst Peter Misek.

Forbes reports on an investor note from Misek in which the analyst lowers his fiscal 2014 EPS estimate from $38.78 to $37.95 vs. the Street’s $42.66 "due to the iPhone 5c being priced like Apple's prior generation handsets rather than at a new level and our checks indicate 5s supply constraints due to poor yields on the fingerprint sensor."


Misek cut his price target for AAPL from $450 to $425. He estimates that there will only be 5-10 million iPhone 5s units built in calendar Q3 and his 20-25 million units estimate for Q4 is exposed down to 15 million.

For the iPhone 5c, Misek estimates 20 million will be made in calendar Q3 and 30 million will be manufactured in Q4. He does not believe the device will be well received in China due to its high cost, small screen, and plastic construction and has slashed his fiscal 2014 iPhone sales predictions from 162 to 147 million units accordingly.

Misek previously estimated that 55 to 60 million iPhones would be manufactured in Q4. That's now been revised down to 48 to 60 million with nearly the entire downside coming from the iPhone 5s. Misek says his checks indicate that fingerprint sensor yields "have been terrible".

This may be one of the reasons Apple is not offering pre-orders on the new flagship device. Will be you be lining up for one? Let us know in the comments!


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