iPhone 15 Pro Max To See A Price Hike This Year, But Its Periscope Camera Lens Supplier Will Reportedly Not Make A Profit

Apple is reported to raise the price of its iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, but the larger model is said to exclusively arrive with a periscope zoom camera, hence justifying the company’s decision somewhat. However, as Apple looks to increase its margins by bringing in more exclusive features for its ‘Pro’ models, the firm’s periscope camera lens supplier is said to miss out on this opportunity, according to the latest report.

Analyst believes that periscope camera lens supplier will only make $4 per unit, and next year, Apple may not even rely on it to provide the same component for the iPhone 16

In his Medium blog post, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has provided a bleak outlook on Apple’s suppliers for this year. According to him, lens orders in the second quarter are ‘very weak’ and expected to decline by up to 40 percent compared to the previous quarter. He also states that compared to last year’s period, camera lens shipments appear to be doing terribly. Largan, who is supposed to be Apple’s periscope camera lens supplier for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, is said to experience a 21 percent month-over-month decline in revenue.

This drop may suggest that demand for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max is slowly dropping, which is expected, as this year, Apple will launch the iPhone 15 lineup in the third quarter. With the technology giant said to bring more upgrades to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, customers likely held off on upgrading to the iPhone 14 models right now, but that can also mean a steady decline in revenue for Apple.

Each of Largan’s periscope camera lenses with a prism for the iPhone 15 Pro Max costs $4. However, the price is lower than the ‘market consensus’ of $4.5-$5 and higher. Even if the iPhone 15 Pro Max is priced higher than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, Largan does not stand to benefit from this hike as it sells its components at a lower price. Also, next year, Kuo implies in his blog post that Largan may not be included in Apple’s supply chain to provide periscope camera lens shipments for the iPhone 16.

Instead, those orders may be fulfilled by Genius. Assuming Apple follows a dual-sourcing approach and taps both Genius and Largan to supply those periscope camera lenses, the suppliers will have to reduce their prices further, sacrificing their margins as they attempt to garner more orders from Apple. Perhaps these companies can raise their fares slightly, but that can risk the consumer’s ability to pay for these flagships, as Apple may have another reason to increase the price of the iPhone 16 next year.