iPhone 5

Apple (AAPL) sold a record-breaking 5 million iPhone 5 handsets during the device’s debut weekend but despite a strong start, the sleek new smartphone has become Wall Street’s whipping boy in recent weeks. Following reports that Apple slashed iPhone 5 component orders in half due to weak demand, numerous institutions have cut their estimates on Apple’s performance in fiscal 2013 and 2014, often citing their own iPhone 5 checks when relaying the news to clients. Is this a case of stock manipulation as a number of Apple bloggers have suggested, or is there now enough smoke to assume there really is a fire? More →

Investors were sent into a panic on Monday, again, as reports from Nikkei and The Wall Street Journal suggested Apple (AAPL) slashed iPhone 5 component orders in half due to weak demand. According to both reports, Apple recently trimmed its iPhone 5 display panel orders from 65 million to around half that figure. BGR pulled the report apart on Monday, and now NPD DisplaySearch analyst Paul Semenza says his sources paint a much different picture of Apple’s recent order cuts. More →

Still wondering why Apple (AAPL) is reportedly developing a cheaper iPhone? A number of industry analysts have theorized for months that the high-end smartphone market will face a difficult year in 2013, and new reports from both The Wall Street Journal and Nikkei on Monday morning suggest Apple is already feeling the crunch. Nikkei first reported the rumor, claiming that Apple cut iPhone 5 display orders in half last month in anticipation of a much slower March quarter than it had previously expected. The Journal then followed with a similar claim, citing multiple unnamed sources of its own. Both reports state that Apple has also trimmed component orders beyond just display panels. Apple shares are down more than 3.75% in pre-market trading on the reports.