Goldman Sachs: Iphone Shipments to Drop by 36%

Goldman Sachs said on Friday that it expects iPhone shipments to drop by 36% this quarter due to worldwide closures linked to the coronavirus outbreak, recommending stakeholders to start selling Apple shares.

Apple shares fell 1.36% to $282.80 on Friday, despite the rise of the Standard & Poor's (S&P 500) index by 1.5%.

Goldman analysts also reduced the share price target by %7 to $233 in their report that predicts a decline in demand for the iPhone over the quarter ending in June, the third quarter of Apple's fiscal year.

The US company pointed out that the average selling prices of devices is likely to decline in the midst of an economic recession and to remain weak even after the start of recovery in unit sales.

"We don't assume that this slowdown will spawn Apple's users from its base but, we simply assume that existing users will keep devices for longer periods of time and opt for cheaper alternatives than Apple itself when they buy a new device,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a note.

It is noteworthy that Apple released a new $399 iPhone SE with the iPhone 8's body, the iPhone 11's processor, and the iPhone XR's camera system to confront the current slowdown with a cheaper phone.