Subscribe
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE

When Apple released its iPhone 5 last fall the company boasted record-breaking numbers within the first few days, but the shine has since dimmed.

According to a newly released report from Japanese news service Nikkei, Apple has cut production orders for the device.  

“The iPhone is no longer unique, fashion fatigue will transpire, and the rich price premium will be impossible sustain,” wrote analyst Per Lindberg in a research report.

Apple’s stock is also suffering, dropping 4 percent to a low of $498. 51, a number not reached since February of last year.  “Our checks with supply chain contacts close to the situation identified very cause: a slower ramp in the manufacturing and insufficient productions,” noted Joana Feeney of Longbow Research. “Rather than ordering more components and having inventory build up, Apple put component supplies on notice to hold off, for the time being, on further shipments until it expanded its production lines—which it plans to complete by the end of the quarter.”

Sales of Samsung phones have also become a viable competitor for Apple within the smartphone market. The company announced today that global sales of the Galaxy S smartphone passed 100 million since the initial launch of the phone in May of 2010, while the Galaxy 3—launched last year—reached 40 million sales in seven month.

Additionally, the forthcoming Galaxy S IV, to be outfitted with an unbreakable screen and higher definition quality resolution, is poised to further distances itself in the race against Apple.

In spite of the fading demand, Apple is already moving on to its next product and is said to be introducing an iPhone 6 model sometime this year.

 

Photo:  technorati.com