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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malber
April 29, 2011 at 9:05am
They waited too long and priced it too high. There are more competitive Android options at this time compared with when the iP4 was released on AT&T, and the next iPhone iteration, if only September, is relatively imminent.
malber
April 29, 2011 at 9:07am
Also, not being 4G when there are comparably priced 4G Android phones on Verizon is kind of a big deal for people who care about such things.
montana2ny
April 28, 2011 at 8:08am
It is very possible that there are many iPhone users (me) that plan on switching to Verizon once our AT&T contracts are up. Not that I think Verizon is any better than AT&T. I loath Verizon, but they do have more coverage in the places I'm likely to need it. It's one of those "the frying pan or the fire" choices.
nicvargus
April 28, 2011 at 12:22pm
If Apple cared to sell more Verizon phones they should have started leaking info about the new iPhone not coming until September. Almost all major news outlets (justifiably) recommended waiting for the iPhone 5 and undoubtedly influenced a lot of people to hold tight to their dreaded AT&T phones.
