Apple Puts Brakes on iPhone 5C Production

Apple is telling its suppliers to scale back production on the iPhone 5C, the lower-cost iPhone model that's been criticized from day one for being too expensive. Apple's two Taiwanese assemblers were told that fourth-quarter orders would be cut, by about 20% for the larger of the two, and 33% at the smaller, the Wall Street Journal reports. One component manufacturer said its orders were being cut by 50%.

The more expensive iPhone 5S is outselling its plastic sibling two-to-one, a Consumer Intelligence Research Partners report this week revealed. Essentially, it's selling about as well as the 4S did after the 5 debuted, All Things D points out. Analysts have already begun warning investors to stay away from the 5C assemblers. But Larry Dignan at ZDNet thinks it's "too early to go crazy and start calling the iPhone 5C a flop," noting that these cuts "may indicate inventory tweaking more than a dramatic slowdown." (More Apple stories.)