There could be a new trend emerging. One that will allow Apple's enemies such as Qualcomm to take advantage of, all because Apple has decided to halt reporting hardware sales data going forward.  

In a new report published today by Digitimes we learn that Apple Suppliers of touch modules for the iPhone XR TPK and GIS recorded strong sales for October apparently driven by increased shipments of touch solutions for iPhone XR.

Sources at the two companies also insisted that they did not see any changes to their orders for November-December, and that their projections for sales to reach the peak of the year in the fourth quarter remain unchanged.

In fact, the two firms have invested heavily so far in 2018 for equipment upgrades in order to cope with Apple's requirement for the lamination of out-cell touch modules for iPhone XR, indicated the industry sources.

GIS approved a budget of NT$7.5 billion (US$243.02 million) for capital spending in the first half of 2018, with 50% the budget being used for ramping up its lamination capacity, said the sources.

TPK also reported total investment of NT$2.62 billion (US$84.8 million) in the third quarter of 2018, mainly for the manufacture of new products in the second half of the year.

That should have been reflected in Digitimes headline as a positive story for Apple and its new iPhone XR. Instead, they allowed a negative rumor from Nikkei Asian Review about Apple signalling disappointing demand for iPhone XR and instructed its top-two smartphone assemblers Foxconn Electronics and Pegatron to halt plans for additional production lines dedicated to iPhone XR. And yet the positive reports from GIS and TPK appear to indicate that they have received no such order to slow production or they would have stated so while reporting their strong sales.

The Nikkei has for years now started negative rumors about poor iPhone sales only to be shown as fools once Apple reported iPhone sales data. In the short run however, it generated a lot of clicks for the Nikkei Asian Review for their negative stance based on imaginary facts that the foreign press ate up.

Case in point: Patently Apple posted a report on January 29, 2018 titled "While Apple's iPhone X was the #1 Smartphone in Q4, the Nikkei claims it was Disappointing and invents Dire Results for Q1."

Reality: (1) Apple delivered a stunning 4th quarter with iPhone X the top selling selling iPhone every week it sold in the quarter. (2) for calendar Q1 2018 the so-called "dire results" the Nikkei forecasted were in fact another smashing quarter for Apple delivering the best March quarter - Q1 ever recorded - with strong iPhone revenue.

Reality translates to the Nikkei Asian Review being completely irresponsible for inventing news for the sake of clicks. They have no credibility when it comes to reporting on iPhones sales – zero.

The Nikkei's fake-news was easy to counter in the past because Apple would prove the critics wrong with hard data. Going forward, the Nikkei and those willing to lie about Apple's iPhone successes will have a field day knowing that those covering Apple news will have no means of countering their nonsense.

It will allow any enemy of Apple's, especially a company like Qualcomm who is at war with Apple over licensing and patent issues, to use research agency's and fake-news outlets to ramp up negative campaigns against Apple. A hint of such activity surfaced yesterday. 

While the iPhone's never ending growth story may be coming to an end at some unknown time in the future, Apple having chosen to stop reporting sales data going forward will now open the gates to a continual stream of negative fake-news with no means of countering it.  

Today's story is a classic example. Real suppliers are saying sales for touch modules for the iPhone XR are steady if not strong. Yet Digitimes chose to trust a Nikkei story that's entirely based on a rumor to be the heart of their byline.

In the opening paragraph of the Digitimes report they state: "TPK Holding and General Interface Solution (GIS), two major touch module suppliers for Apple's iPhone devices, may see slower shipment momentum in the first quarter of 2019, as analysts and other sources have warned of weaker than expected sales of iPhone XR, according to industry sources."

Yet for their byline, Digitimes forgot all about "may see slower momentum" and magically turned into "Touch panel makers to face weaker demand from iPhone XR in 1Q19." No longer was it a maybe, but rather a fact in the blink of an eye.  

Tim Cook once said that the proliferation of fake news is "killing people’s minds." Yet by not reporting their hardware data quarterly opens the door for fake news to flourish, courtesy of Apple's CEO. Oh, the irony.