Apple Rumors

From Wall Street Journal,

Apple has cut its component orders for the iPhone 5 because of weaker-than-expected demand, indicating sales of the latest smartphone haven’t been as strong as anticipated.

Yet one day later, analysts said that:

Iphone 5 is not experiencing weak demand – the recently ballyhooed cuts in components orders could in fact reflect improved yields on components.

Are the reports true? Hard to say.

Financial Times has the following comment:

Perhaps Apple had such a strong holiday period that it’s now anticipating a drop-off in demand. Or perhaps it has plans to tweak the screen in a forthcoming model, and wants to keep its inventory of the soon-to-be-obsolete screen under tight control. Or perhaps one supplier, which has not spoken to the press, has received a bigger slice of the orders while its chattier competitors have been given smaller slices. Or perhaps Apple is using its supply-chain power competitively, clogging up manufacturing capacity with outsized orders at key times, then cutting the orders when its own needs are met.

Any thoughts on that? Do you think Apple’s demand is dropping because of fierce competitions from Samsung and other cheap smartphone makers?