Report: Apple Cuts 4Q iPhone Production By 40%

Apple may have cut by 40 percent fourth quarter production of its flagship iPhone handset, a Friedman, Billings, Ramsey analyst said Monday.

The drop in production would be far deeper than the 10 percent cut previously anticipated.

“Our new checks indicate that iPhone production could fall more than 40 percent sequentially in the 4Q,” FBR’s Craig Berger wrote in a note to clients.

The drop in production shouldn’t be interpreted as a dip in iPhone demand. In October, Apple reported shipping 6.9 million iPhones during the third quarter.

However, the lowered production may signal “no market segment will be spared in this global downturn,” wrote Berger.

Gauging just how deep the cut is again depends on who’s numbers you are using: Apple’s or Wall Street’s.

“Its not like they are cutting the iPhone production 40% from the Street numbers,” Piper Jaffray’s Apple watcher Gene Munster told Cult of Mac. Piper Jaffray believes iPhone production will drop 8 percent from September to December.

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Munster said the 40 percent production drop is based on Apple’s own expectations. Does that mean Apple was uncharacteristically over-optimistic?

It’s something to think about, Munster told Cult of Mac by e-mail.

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