Apple's latest iPhone X, which took the world by storm in November 2017 due to its button-less screen and $1,000 price tag, is rumored to be cancelled starting this summer.
The rumors came after AppleInsider obtained reports from Ming-Chi Kuo, a renowned analyst from KGI Securities, a Taiwanese business group focusing on brokerage and investments.
According to Kuo, who has successfully predicted and analyzed Apple's business moves for years, low sales from the iPhone X will be enough reason to stop production. The analyst further noted that the smartphone's performance in the Chinese market is a big indicator of its possible cancellation.
The Taiwanese analyst said that the iPhone X is not performing well in China due to the highly debated "notch" on the smartphone's screen.
The notch is a new design that protects the face scanner, another new feature of the iPhone X that is controversial due to its replacement of the fingerprint scanner.
According to the analyst, the notch, which looks like a cutout atop of the phone's screen, gets in the way of the phone's display, lessening the screen's effectivity overall.
Kuo further noted that Chinese buyers would rather have the iPhone 8 Plus since it is slightly bigger.
While an option to reduce its price is available, Kuo alluded that Apple would rather cancel production before a batch of new models are set for production come fall. This would be the first time that Apple would cancel a smartphone just after one generation since the iPhone 5C.
Along with this new production, the KGI Securities analyst mentioned a potential debut of an "iPhone X Plus" after cancellation of the original version. The analyst believes that "migrating the technology" would be a viable option for the tech giant.
Kuo wrote that a "trio of iPhone models" are set to arrive, similar to the iPhone X, 8, and 8 Plus last year. These three upcoming models are said to take into account grave mistakes such as the notch in order for Apple to offset the disappointing sales.
Despite the rumored cancellation of the iPhone X, the analyst still predicts that Apple will see a 10 percent growth in 2018 if it migrates the aforementioned smartphone's technology to a notch-less and cheaper version come fall.
