Apple: Piper, RBC Refute Rumors Of Slowing iPhone Sales

DigiTimes’s Cage Chao and Steve Shen this morning write that Apple (AAPL) has told some suppliers of parts for its iPhone 4S it wants to take delivery next quarter, not this quarter, which the authors attribute to a slowing in sales of the device.

Citing anonymous supply chain sources, the authors write that iPhone 4S orders were higher in the “pre-sales” period for the iPhone than they were subsequent to that.

It’s not clear from the article whether the authors believe sales are underperforming for Apple, or how to interpret the slowing, exactly. I should think a drop-off from the pre-order period, when orders are received in a rush might be the natural course of any product roll-out.

In any event, Chao and Shen even assert that some chip makers will see lower revenue in Q4 than previously expected because they’ll be shipping chips in Q1 for the iPhone instead.

Apple shares are down $10.51, or 2.6%, at $395.72.

Update:?On the other hand, RBC Capital’s Mike Abramsky writes this morning that “The report is at odds with what appears to be continued strong iPhone 4S sell-through at multiple carriers/countries globally (including recent stockouts in some countries).”

Abramsky writes that online order status indicators still show a one- to two-week delay in availability of the 4S, and that recent “checks” indicate the 4S is still the top smartphone at AT&T (T), Sprint-Nextel (S) and Verizon Communications (VZ).

“One explanation is the reduced orders (if true) may be related more to AAPL pulling back its typical over-ordering of components/ODM to secure availability, particularly for this high profile launch during the holidays, rather than slowing sellthrough vs street expectations (Only 3 weeks ago on Q4 results, CEO Tim C! ook said they expect iPhone 4S sales to set an ‘All Time Record’ Q1FY12 (end Dec); RBC currently expects 29.4M iPhones Q1 vs 17M shipped Q4)

Likewise, Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster this morning writes that the “chatter round iPhone 4S production cuts is off base” and reiterates his 26-million-unit forecast for this quarter.

Munster writes that he and his staff made calls to 30 Apple stores in the U.S. on Monday. He found 17 were sold out, and the 13 that had supply had only certain models in stock, not others.

“Given the stock outages at the U.S. Apple stores nearly one month after the launch, we believe it is unlikely that Apple would cut production, when it clearly cannot build iPhones fast enough to meet demand,” writes Munster.