According to Nikkei Asian Review, Apple requested the production decimation late last month, before the market-shocking guidance revision that walloped the firm’s share price.

The firm had already reportedly “slashed” production orders for its latest iPhone models the previous month.

Those models do not come cheap, starting at $749 for the cheapest iPhone XR, which is 8% more than the cheapest version (the iPhone 8) released the previous year. When revising its revenue forecast last week, Apple did not admit that high prices were a factor in its slowing sales, instead opting to blame the slowdown in the Chinese economy and low upgrade figures.

The fact is that Apple’s prices are incredibly high in a market where cheap Chinese phones from the likes of Xiaomi and Huawei are more than capable for most people’s needs. However, the smartphone market is also in a broader contraction.

Phone-makers Samsung and LG this week shocked analysts with profit warnings relating to falling sales — the former company isn’t just the world’s biggest handset manufacturer, but also a major component supplier to companies including Apple. New data from the state-run China Academy of Information and Communications Technology also showed Chinese smartphone shipments fell by a whopping 15.5% in 2018.

Apple had not responded to a request for comment on the Nikkei report at the time of writing.