Apple's iPhone sales is likely to fall 33 percent between the December 2017 and March 2018 quarters, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi wrote in a research note released on Tuesday.
Bernstein reckons Apple will offer implied guidance of 51 million to 57 million iPhones sold for the March quarter, lower than consensus guidance estimates of 62 million.
"At a high level, noise in the supply chain appears most pronounced about Apple's March quarter, consistent with the fact that sequential declines could be in line, or worse than recent history," Sacconaghi said.
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According to Sacconaghi, this isn't very surprising because Apple usually sells about 30 percent fewer iPhones in the quarter after the holiday shopping rush.
But the pricey iPhone X was widely expected on Wall Street to drive a "super-cycle" thanks to its new form factor, including a screen that takes up the entire front face, he said.
Sacconaghi isn't the only to share a sober view of Apple's iPhone X prospects.
Research from JP Morgan predicts that manufacturing of the iPhone X might drop 50 percent between the December and March quarters.
Likewise, Taiwanese media and some supply-chain analysts have also speculated that Apple might be scaling back on its iPhone X production plans.
