Remember all the excitement leading up to Apple introducing the iPhone 4 for CDMA networks, such as Verizon? Well, just as Christmas Eve tension leads to Boxing Day blahs, so goes demand for the CDMA iPhone. A new report suggests the Cupertino, Calif. company has cut in half its orders for the CDMA iPhone 4 this year.
Pegatron, which was expected to ship 10 million CDMA iPhone 4s in 2011, now may only make half that number. “Volume is estimated to drop to only five million units,” a Taiwan-based industry publication wrote Thursday, citing “upstream component makers.”
If the DigiTimes report is accurate, the slowdown in order requests means Apple plans to sell about 1 million of the handsets each quarter until it unveils the iPhone 5, compatible with both CDMA and GSM wireless networks. The iPhone 5 is expected to begin shipping this September.
Apple has already shipped more than 3 million CDMA iPhone 4s during the first three-month period of 2011 – 2.2 million going to Verizon and the remainder either restocking empty shelves or exported to international carriers.
The reasons for the slacking interest in the CDMA-only iPhone 4 are varied. Although iPhone owners liked the idea of having a choice other than AT&T, reviewers quickly pointed out that the Verizon CDMA network was slower than the initial GSM network. Additionally, besides being available on Verizon, the CDMA iPhone 4 didn’t offer features or services vastly different than the iPhone 4 already available through AT&T.
