A market analyst, probably not Apples favourite guy right now, claims that Apple will cut production of the revolutionary iPhone by around 40 percent during the current 4th quarter.

FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger said in a report that, compared to the previous year on year figures, some “new checks” have helped him to reach the 40 percent reduction figure, which has no doubt got Apples shareholders nervous.

Berger’s latest prediction marks an increase of four times the amount of his earlier forecasts, when he said iPhone production would reduce by ten percent during the current quarter.
However, it’s not quite as crystal clear as Berger makes out. Apple iPhone sold 6.9 million units in the third quarter of the year, and the reasons for any reduced output could be many things.

It’s entirely plausible that the company over-ordered during the previous quarter and it may want to reduce market stock levels slightly. Its also possible with the global credit crisis that Apple are just being cautious.

News corporation CNN said that Bergers analysis should be “taken with a grain of salt, given Bergers track record with Apple”, before noting some of the analysts previous claims on the company.
It’s fair to say that maybe Craig Berger is a rubbish analyst. He made claims last February that Apple had cut its build forecast for MacBooks because of a predicted 50 percent decline in sales. What actually happened was sales in macBook rose by seven percent.