In a note to clients — as reported by “The Mac Observer” (http://www.macobserver.com) — Sterne Agree analyst Shaw Wu says Apple is scaling back production of the iPhone 4S due to a fall refresh of the smartphone. He thinks Apple will ship 26-28 million iPhones during the current quarter.
“We have picked up from our supplier checks that build plans for current iPhones have been reduced significantly. We are hearing a magnitude of down 20%-25% Q/Q from 35.1 million units in the March quarter,” Wu writes. “From our understanding, the reason for the reduction is not demand related but rather due to the upcoming 6th generation iPhone refresh likely in the September-October timeframe. It appears that Apple is opting to be conservative with its suppliers to factor in a potential two-quarter pause ahead of the refresh and also to manage inventory.”