Could the long-rumored Verizon iPhone actually have been something of an underachiever? That seems to be what one report is claiming, with Apple reportedly slashing production orders for the handset by half.

MacRumors is reporting that all of the pent-up demand for the iPhone on Verizon Wireless may have actually been much ado about nothing. According to DigiTimes, Apple supposedly slashed production of the CDMA iPhone 4 by nearly half -- from an initial order of 10 million down to only five million.

“Pegatron originally expected to ship 10 million CDMA iPhone 4s in 2011, but sources from upstream component makers pointed out that Apple's orders already saw a significant reduction and the volume is estimated to drop to only five million units,” the DigiTimes report reveals. Pegatron reported a loss for the first quarter of this year, and the CDMA iPhone 4 might have been partly to blame.

Thus far, Verizon Wireless has activated 2.2 million CDMA iPhone 4 handsets since the device was launched in February after years of anticipation dating back to the original iPhone in 2007. While hardly a flop, the Verizon iPhone appears to have underperformed when compared to expectations -- although being introduced months after the iPhone 4 was introduced last June likely contributed to that, as well as many AT&T users still being locked into contracts.

Apple is expected to introduce an iPhone 5 in September, which is widely believed to be a global phone capable of being used with both CDMA (Verizon) and GSM (AT&T and possibly T-Mobile) carriers.

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