UBS said that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone demand experienced a notable softening in March. The analysts noted that the sell-through of iPhones dropped by almost 4% year-on-year, with iPhone sell-through in the US, Apple’s biggest market, falling by 8% year-on-year. This was the lowest number of units sold in the US since September 2020, with the trend attributed to soft upgrade rates at telecoms firms AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.
Despite this, China saw a 6.7% year-on-year increase in iPhone sell-through to 3.8 million units in March. Europe remained a soft market, with 2.9 million units sold, representing a 22% year-on-year decline.
The analysts expect Q1/23 iPhone builds to be at around 51 million, down 13% year-on-year and 30% quarter-on-quarter.