Edible Apple

A few days ago DigiTimes reported that Apple was ramping up its iPhone production for the second half of 2011 with orders increasing from 50 million units to 56 million units. The increase in production was primarily allocated to the iPhone 5 with Apple reportedly upping its orders from 20 million to 25 million units.

Now DigiTimes has revised its report and relays that Apple’s iPhone orders for the second half of 2011 have been scaled back in light of the global economic climate. Specifically, Apple is scaling back its chipset orders while also scaling back orders for iPhone parts and components.

Not surprisingly, Apple isn’t alone as sources tell DigiTimes that HTC is also lowering its 2011 shipment estimates from 70 million units down to 50-60 million units.

While Apple hasn’t yet officially announced the iPhone 5, or even sent out invitations to a media event where it would presumably announce the iPhone 5, it’s been rumored from a number of sources that Apple will start shipping its next-gen iPhone on October 7th. That said, pre-orders are expected to commence on September 30th while a special media event to unveil the device will likely occur sometime in mid-September.

Adding even more credence to these rumors, a senior AT&T VP reportedly told employees that the iPhone is poised for an early October launch and that they should expect things to get “really, really busy in the next 35-50 days.”