By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 01:00 PM EST

Shares of Apple Inc. took a substantial hit Tuesday morning after an unofficial analyst comment on iPhone production was blown out of proportion during a swift game of Wall Street telephone tag. Meanwhile, an overseas report claims Apple plans to ramp production of a new iPhone model this September.

Apple skids on one-off analyst comment

Apple shares slipped more than $5.00 or 3.5 percent in early morning trading on the Nasdaq stock market after TheStreet.com reported on a research note from Miller Tabak which allegedly asserted that Apple was reducing its production of iPhones from "9 million units to 4.5 million units.”

However, Miller Tabak analyst Peter Boockvar later told AppleInsider that his firm authored no such note on Apple. Instead, he said, gossip was passed along during a conversation and was subsequently overblown.

"Disregard it. There's no note on Apple today," Boockvar said. "It's pure noise."

iPod ramp in September

Taiwan-based Compeq Manufacturing will start producing rigid-flex printed circuit boards (PCBs) for a new line of Apple iPods due for production ramp in the September time frame, according to DigiTimes.

Rigid-flex circuit boards use a combination of flexible and rigid substrates laminated into a single package, presenting a 3D interconnect that can be bent, folded, and mutilated into a higher performing PCB. The technology allows electronics designers to replace multiple PCBs interconnected with connectors, wires and ribbon cables with a single package offering improved performance and reliability.

Additionally, Compeq is said to have received validation for high density interconnect (HDI) and rigid-flex PCBs for handheld models that will become part of Apple's iPhone series.

While DigiTimes offered no additional details on the iPhone model, it cited industry sources in saying iPod production would begin in small volumes this August, with shipments ramping up in September.