By Sam Boughedda
Investing.com — Shares of technology powerhouse Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) are languishing Thursday after Bloomberg reported that the company is facing slowing demand for its iPhone 13 lineup.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the report said that Apple is telling vendors that a pick-up in orders in 2022 may not materialize.
Apple shares are down over 2% in early Thursday trading after initially hitting a low of $157.80.
The company has already felt the effects of the global supply chain issues and had to slash its iPhone 13 production target by around 10 million units for this year, while in the fourth quarter of the 2021 fiscal year it posted a rare revenue miss, due to supply chain challenges.
While demand for the iPhone 13 is reported to have weakened, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives has taken the opposite opinion, increasing the price target on Apple shares to $200 from $185 and telling investors that he has increased confidence in the model.
“Our iPhone 13 checks continue to be much stronger than expected with our belief that Apple is now on pace to sell north of 40 million iPhones during the holiday season despite the chip shortage headwinds,” Ives told investors in a research note.
“The focus of the Street has been on the lingering chip shortage for Apple (and every other tech and automotive player), however the underlying iPhone 13 demand story for Cupertino both domestically and in China is trending well ahead of Street expectations in our opinion,” he added.