BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Did Apple cut its orders of iPhone parts from its suppliers because of manufacturing issues or is the demand for the product dwindling due to increased competition?

Reports came in Monday that said Apple was cutting its orders of liquid crystal displays by as much as 50 percent from Japan Display, Sharp and LG Display.

Some analysts said the cutbacks were due to quality control issues, and production lines that were not big enough. Joanne Feeney of Longbow Research said, according to Reuters, "Rather than ordering more components and having inventory build up further, Apple put component suppliers on notice to hold off on further shipments until it expanded its production lines - which it plans to complete by the end of the quarter."

Reports said Apple had ordered 65 million screens for the quarter of January to March, and analysts believe that was just too many. Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um told investors not to be too concerned over that large number.

Um said it was very unlikely that Apple would have shipped 65 million iPhone 5s for that period because sales are usually slower in the quarter. According to Gigaom, he said reaching that number would meant a 41% increase on Wells Fargo estimated sales of 46 million.

Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones between January and March of 2012.

The company’s stock slid to $498.51 at one point on Monday, but rebounded back over $500. Shares had reached a high of $705.07 back in September, according to Newser. Apple had 23% of global smartphone market sales during the first quarter of 2012, but that number had fallen to 14.6% by the third quarter. During the same period, Samsung’s market share was 31.3%.