Apple and suppliers have different opinions about Apple Watch sales performance

Apple has not officially revealed the exact sales numbers of the Apple Watch. On July 21, when the Cupertino based tech giant announced its Q3 earnings, it had included Apple Watch’s sales numbers for the first time but the numbers were united with the “other products” category. Meanwhile, many reports have been highlighting the performance of the Apple Watch (in terms of popularity and market share) in a positive way.

A report on Wall Street Journal highlights on the concerns of Apple Watch suppliers, which emphasises that the demand for Apple Watch is not real. Bernstein Research’s analyst, Mark Li figured out that a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Advanced Semiconductor Engineering could not even reach its “break even volume” of two million units per month in Q2 and besides that, the ASE subsidiary does not expect to fulfil its target during Q3.

“The shortfall of Apple Watch is a disappointment,” the Wall Street Journal quoted Mark Li, as saying. Li had not expected that a company like ASE would not be able to reach break-even volume with a new product even during Q3, which is typically a busy period. From this, it can be deciphered that Apple’s wearable is not selling in a big way.

The suppliers’ side of the story contradicts the earlier reports on Apple Watch. Recently, research firm Strategy Analytics had revealed that Apple Watch has grabbed a dominant 75 percent in the smartwatch market. According to the research firm, global smartwatch shipments grew 457 percent annually to hit a record 5 million units in Q2 2015. Meanwhile, a CNET report had quoted Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook saying, "sales of the Watch did exceed my expectations, despite supply trailing demand at the end of the quarter."

However, considering the shipments of any one supplier might not tell us the true story, as Apple sources its components from various suppliers. The Wall Street Journal report has also mentioned that Apple has advised not to focus more into supplier comments as no particular supplier has a complete idea of Apple’s intricate supply chain.

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