Analyst: The iPhone Will Suffer

The rising clout of Samsung’s (SSNLF.PK) smartphones will give the iPhone a tough time in the ongoing three-month period, Citi analyst Glen Yeung has said. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will give up some of its smartphone market share in the March quarter, “raising concern about the on-going dominance of the iPhone,” Yeung wrote  in a note to investors.

“Our checks mid-December revealed initial signs of order cuts from Apple, now evident across a larger array of suppliers,” the analyst wrote, according to CNET. “We acknowledge the true nature of these cuts is as yet inconclusive, but we suspect they reflect growing demand for competitive offerings (e.g. Samsung), particularly outside the U.S.”

Yeung predicted iPhone unit sales of 35 million for the current quarter, short of Wall Street’s consensus figure of 42 million. But as far as the December quarter was concerned, Yeung saw no cause for worry. Sales of the iPhone could meet or even beat Wall Street’s forecast of 45 million to 50 million, he said.