Detwiler Fenton Says Apple Is Headed For A 'Steep Sequential Decline'

Detwiler Fenton's Jeff Johnston commented in a brief research report on Wednesday that

is headed for a "steep sequential decline." According to Johnston's checks, Samsung's flagship Galaxy S7 is seeing now signs of a slow-down in sales and excess inventory. In fact, Apple's largest competitor is "struggling to meet carrier orders" and Samsung's success is "coming at Apple's expense." Johnston continued that Samsung is taking market share away from Apple as carriers continue to promote Samsung's devices and the company has generated a large amount of "buzz" for its Samsung Gear VR headset. Accordingly, Apple's June quarter iPhone sales in the US could see a "larger sequential decline than in past years" and sales could have declined by over 25 percent. Finally, the analyst suggested that many potential iPhone customers are postponing their upgrade and waiting for the iPhone 7 launch which has yet to be confirmed. Shares of Apple were trading higher by around 0.75 percent early Wednesday afternoon.