Given the number of iPhones that Apple manages to sell with every release, basically any supplier they work with is more or less guaranteed a payday due the number of components that will be required of them. Of course this also means having to deal with Apple’s demands and in some cases, bending to Apple’s will simply because it’s better than nothing.
However Apple’s influence over its suppliers could be waning, according to a report from DigiTimes (via MacRumors) in which they claim that Apple’s suppliers in Taiwan are refusing to lower the price of the components needed for the iPhone 7. Apparently these suppliers are citing the decline of iPhone sales as a reason why they aren’t as excited as before for iPhone-related orders.
The report goes on to add that Apple had apparently asked some of their lower level suppliers to reduce their prices by as much as 20%, which we suppose would have been fine if Apple’s iPhones weren’t experiencing a sales slump, but asking for a 20% discount while placing orders 30% lower than last year just isn’t sitting too well with the suppliers.
Earlier this year we reported that Apple had for the first time since the iPhone’s launch reported a decline in sales. The number of phones they are selling are still incredibly high, but definitely not what they used to be a couple of years back.