Suppliers Provide Peek Into Apple Watch Sales

Apple Watch’s market response might have outdone Apple’s expectation for its first step into the tech wearable market but has apparently failed that of the Watch’s manufacturers.

Taiwan-based Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), the manufacturer for an array of sensors and chips for the Watch’s system-in-package (SiP) case, reportedly told its investors on a conference call that the company still have not reached its “break-even” volume of 2 million units per month in the second quarter.

“The shortfall of Apple Watch is a disappointment,” said Mark Li, an analyst at Bernstein Research, in a note to clients. “We came in with a low expectation but below break-even still surprised us.”

It is unusual for a company like ASE not to reach its break-even volume in a typically busy period like the third quarter for a new product, Li said in an interview, The Wall Street Journal reported. Li expects that ASE will fall short of shipping his previous forecast of 18 million units this year.

Apple, however, remained bullish on the sales and market response of the Watch. Without giving away any numbers, the company said that the Watch did better than its own forecast.

As for the poor performance on the analysts’ forecasts, the company warned against giving suppliers’ forecasts too much importance as one vendor never has complete understanding of the complex supply chain of its products.

A more comprehensive picture of the overall success of the Apple Watch is yet to emerge as the company rolls it out across parts of the world. In China, about 809,000 Apple Watches were reportedly activated in the 12 weeks from its launch on Apr. 24, according to Chinese research firm Talking Data.



To check out what else is HOT in the world of payments, click here.