The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has cut orders for components of the iPhone 5 due to lackluster demand, prompting a sell-off of Apple stocks on Monday before shares rebounded. The Journal's story followed an equally damning report by Japan's Nikkei newswire, which claimed that Apple had cut its expected order of iPhone 5 displays by half in the first quarter.
Apple's stock momentarily sank below $500, down from a high of about $705 in September. The reports fueled concerns that Apple is steadily losing market share to Samsung, whose Android-powered Galaxy series recently overtook the iPhone as the world's most popular smartphone. In the third quarter of 2012, Apple enjoyed 14.6 percent of the world's smartphone shipments, down from 23 percent in the third quarter of 2011. And Apple can expect even more competition as Chinese manufacturers like Huawei churn out cheaper smartphones for emerging markets.
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