Apple (AAPL, $149.84) shares moved sharply lower Wednesday following a report that suggested the world's biggest tech company will scrap plans to boost iPhone production amid fading consumer demand. As it was gearing up to launch the iPhone 14 series Apple thought that it would need to increase production by as much as 6 million units.

Reportedly, Apple has instructed suppliers and assemblers to pare back plans to boost production of the newly-launched iPhone 14 by as many as 6 million units, opting instead to chase a target of 90 million — roughly in-line with last year's tally and its early summer forecast — for the second half of this year.

A cautious outlook from its main assembler, Foxconn, had raised concerns over waning smartphone demand over the second half of the year. Foxconn said at the time that is sees current-quarter smartphone revenues coming in flat to last year, citing "geopolitics, inflationary pressure and the Covid pandemic", with support from solid demand in its cloud and networking products divisions. Apple typically accounts for around half of Taiwan-based Foxconn's annual revenue.