The next generation iPhone expected to feature Force Touch technology

And that is exactly why the company has already asked suppliers to manufacture between 85 and 90 million unit of its next phones by the end of this year. In the first half of the fiscal year ended in September, the company sold 135.6 million phones, up 43% from the same period a year ago.

The Apple Watch is not seen as significant for profits in the short term but the wrist-worn gadget is Chief Executive Tim Cook’s first major product and its failure would be poorly received by Wall Street.

Apple’s smartphone sales have been good in the last couple of months. Both the Apple Watch and MacBook feature Force Touch. Varying reports have suggested a new rose gold color or a new pink color for the aluminum iPhone casing.

However, the report noted that as of the time being, it is still vague if Apple’s upcoming device will use the name “iPhone 7” or “iPhone 6s”.

The paper said, the third assembler, Taiwan-based Wistron Corp to help produce the new phones.

It comes after circuitry and chips inside what is reported to be Apple’s next phone have been laid bare in a series of leaked images and files. This can be used to enable new controls and gestures, such as a contextual menu that pops up on a hard press. The off-year “S” model typically adds features that don’t dramatically alter the overall design – such as the Siri digital voice assistant, added with the iPhone 4S, or the TouchID fingerprint reader, which debuted with the iPhone 5S.

If accurate, this sets a new record for an initial iPhone production order. For last year’s effort, Apple relied on Pegatron Corp. and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.

But some of the old trends also held water; iOS users proved to be freer with the wallet, spending an average of $115 per transaction on iPads and $82 on iPhones. Also, it would likely mean a further reduction in Foxconn’s share of Apple’s iPhone orders. It will also reduce the burden of manufacturing millions of iPhones on single suppliers.

The factories which create some of the iPhone’s components have already swung into action, the report says, with parts being manufactured in large quantities earlier this month.