Just two weeks after citing skyrocketing iPhone (News - Alert) sales on a triumphant report of $1.14 billion in net quarterly profits, Apple Inc. is hearing now analysts’ predictions that the company may have to cut down on production of its popular mobile device.

 

As reported by analyst who spoke Reuters (News - Alert), Apple may have to cut down iPhone production by 40 percent this quarter, as compared to last, because of plummeting consumer demand.

 

The news service reports that Craig Berger, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets, that prior calls for a 10 percent slash didn’t fully take into account the economy’s effect on fearful consumers.

 

Apple officials declined to comment when reached by TMCnet.

 

“NPD Group analyst Ross Rubin (News - Alert) said that if Berger was correct, a 40 percent drop in iPhone production would be dramatic,” Reuters reports. “He noted that in the midst of a weak economy, consumers may be reluctant to buy the iPhone because they don’t want to pay for data service charges when using it.”

 

Yet many of the applications for the iPhone, pictured right – including one that brings international VoIP calls to the device – are designed to save consumers’ money over other modes of mobile communications.

 

Berger’s prediction comes on the heels of a report that may demonstrate how deeply this slow economy is affecting customers. This week, an electronics retail market giant that operates 712 superstores in the United States and 770 stores in Canada announced that it’s closing 155 U.S. stores.

 

As TMCnet reported, officials from Circuit City Stores, Inc. say they plan to reduce new store openings and renegotiate certain leases to reduce costs in this slower economy.

 

What’s more surprising, for some, about the grim prediction for Apple (News - Alert), is that Berger’s report comes just two weeks after Apple said it has sold 6.9 million iPhones and that its Mac sales are hitting all-time highs, bringing $7.9 billion in revenues for the quarter ending Sept. 27.

 

According to the company’s iconic chief executive officer, Steve Jobs, the quarter marked one of Apple’s best-ever, when the iPhone outsold Research In Motion’s BlackBerry (News - Alert) smartphone devices.

 

“We don’t yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple,” Jobs said. “But we’re armed with the strongest product line in our history, the most talented employees and the best customers in our industry. And $25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt.”

 

Not every analyst has Rubin’s negative outlook.

 

According to Reuters, Analyst Van Baker of Gartner (News - Alert) Research said that a 40 percent cut “may not be as bad as it sounds if Apple had already ramped up delivery of the iPhone to countries outside the United States.”

 

The cut “could end up painting an ugly picture, but not as ugly as it seems on face value,” Baker reportedly said.