AAPL-News

Apple Inc. has cut its orders for components for the iPhone 5 due to weaker-than-expected demand, people familiar with the situation said Monday.
Apple's orders for iPhone 5 screens for the January-March quarter, for example, have dropped to roughly half of what the company had previously planned to order, two of the people said.
The Cupertino, Calif., company also has cut orders for components other than screens, according to one of the people.
Apple notified the suppliers of the order cut last month, the people said.
The move indicates that sales of the new iPhone haven't been as strong as previously anticipated and demand may be waning. It comes as the company has been facing greater challenges from Samsung Electronics Co. and other makers of smartphones powered by Google Inc.'s Android operating system.
While Apple has set the agenda for the smartphone market since it released its first iPhone in 2007, South Korea's Samsung, which sells many Android-based models at various price points, has already overtaken the U.S. company as the world's largest smartphone vendor by market share. Demand is also growing for inexpensive smartphones from Chinese makers such as Huawei Technologies Co.
In the 2012 third quarter, Apple held 14.6% of world-wide smartphone shipments, down from a peak of 23% in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, according to IDC.
Samsung's share, meanwhile, rose to 31.3% in the third quarter of 2012, compared with 8.8% in the third quarter of 2010.
The Korean company said earlier this month that it expects to report another record operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2012, capping its best year ever amid strong sales of its Galaxy line of smartphones. The company expects an operating profit equivalent to between $8.1 billion and $8.5 billion for the three months ended in December.
Apple is slated to report earnings later this month.
The iPhone 5, released in September, represents Apple's effort to maintain its strong position amid intensifying competition. The latest model comes with a longer, four-inch screen compared with the 3.5-inch screens used in all previous iPhone models.
Japan's Sharp Corp. and Japan Display Co. and South Korea's LG Display Co. are the three suppliers of the screens, according to people with knowledge of the matter. When the iPhone 5 was launched, there were concerns that suppliers might not be able to produce enough to keep up with demand.
Apple representatives weren't immediately available for comment.
Apple's cut in orders may also affect first-quarter sales of component makers, some of which are largely dependent on the U.S. company. The fact that some iPhone components are highly customized makes it difficult for suppliers to find alternative buyers in a short time frame. Sharp, one of the suppliers of the screens, has been struggling financially with a cash crunch and losses from its television operations.
Japan's Nikkei reported earlier Monday that Apple has slashed its orders for iPhone 5 components.