Investors are now staring down Apple's fiscal fourth quarter earnings release next Thursday on Oct. 25. The latest iPhone 5 was launched with only nine days to go in the fiscal quarter, so its upside is relatively limited. That's especially true when you consider possible supply constraints from Qualcomm basebands, in-cell touch displays, or aluminum casings. A number of analysts are reducing iPhone unit estimates ahead of the report. William Blair has reduced its estimates from 33 million to 26.5 million, Gabelli is down from 32.1 million to 29.9 million, and Morgan Stanley is now at 25 million units. The important thing is that regardless of what unit figures Apple puts up, the current quarter has the potential to be a record breaker.
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