Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL
) has reportedly stopped ordering some components for its 13-inch
MacBook Pro. According to
DigiTimes
, Apple stopped placing new orders because the vendor has already
obtained high inventory levels for the unspecified components.
The suppliers in question (which were not specified either) do
not know when Apple might request additional orders.
DigiTimes also noted that its sources say MacBook Pro
component shipments are 20 percent short of Apple's original
estimates. But since these same suppliers provide components to
the 15-inch MacBook Pro as well, this should not have a huge
impact on their businesses.
Even so, this is an unusual development for Apple. While it
could be assumed that the company simply had a surplus of
components, it might point to a larger problem at the Cupertino,
California-based tech giant.
It is no secret that PC sales are on the decline this year.
Most of the blame has been placed on a lack of exciting new
products and the late arrival of Windows 8 (NASDAQ:
MSFT
), which was not released until October 26. But Windows partners
like Dell (NASDAQ:
DELL
) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:
HPQ
) were not the only companies experiencing declines. Sales of new
Apple notebooks declined by
as much as seven percent
in the third quarter.
When Apple updated the MacBook Air last summer, the company
knocked $100 off the price of the 13-inch model, bringing the
price down to $1,199. This was still somewhat more expensive than
the cheaper Intel (NASDAQ:
INTC
) Ultrabooks, but it was a significant discount for an Apple
product.
If sales had been consistently high, there is no way Apple
would have lowered the price. Thus, the company must have
experienced a decline or anticipated one -- or feared the
potential of Windows 8, which was still forthcoming at the time
of the price cut.
Apple reportedly
surpassed its own internal expectations
for sales of the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. The
device quickly sold out of Apple retail outlets when it was
initially released and created a brief shortage on Apple.com.
It is possible that MacBook Air and the next-gen MacBook Pro
have stolen the thunder of the 13-inch Pro model, which was once
the company's most popular computer. Without any concrete data
from Apple, it is hard to pinpoint the source of the decline.
Technically Apple may not be experiencing a "decline" in
demand for the smaller MacBook Pro. Rather, the company may have
simply
expected
the demand to rise once the upgraded models were released. This
would explain why the company stopped ordering new components.
Apple may have initially ordered more, assuming that the market
would continue to grow. When that assumption did not pan out, the
company was forced to stop ordering certain components.
Whatever the case, this report is not likely to have a major
impact on Apple's share price. The company's value has been
fluctuating on new product rumors and releases, most of which
center on the prospects of a new television and the next line of
iDevices.
Apple, which has declined more than 13 percent over the last
three months, traded down nearly one percent Tuesday morning.
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