Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is cutting back iPhone production to help bring supply more in line with sinking demand, according to a pair of analysts tracking the device’s production timetable. The company’s fourth quarter production is down about 40 percent from the previous quarter when it shattered sales projections, said Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Craig Berger. His previous checks put the drawback closer to 10 percent, but he believes Apple’s production plans have been cut back further, which indicates that the “global macroeconomic weakness is impacting even high-end consumers.”

UBS analyst Maynard Um followed up today with his own take on the matter: “iPhone production and the associated supply chain may be experiencing some incremental weakness due to concerns about end demand.” He pegs Apple’s iPhone production at around 4 million units for the quarter, but stresses that numbers may fall lower “given a weakening environment and checks within the supply chain,” Barron’s reports. Apple shipped 6.9 million iPhones in the third quarter and about 2 million of those are believed to still be in carrier inventory.

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