According to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report, citing unidentified sources, the component orders for iPhone 5 have been slashed by Apple, apparently owing to weak demand for the handset.

Going by the information shared by the WSJ sources, the orders for iPhone 5 screens for the 2013 first quarter were reduced by Apple last month; with the company cutting the orders by approximately 50 percent of its original target.

As per the WSJ report, Apple's orders for iPhone 5 screens for the January-March quarter have been "dropped to roughly half of what the company had previously planned to order." Moreover, along with the orders for iPhone 5 screens, the orders for other screen sizes have also reportedly been trimmed by Apple.

The WSJ report substantiates the earlier projections by a few analysts who had forecast that selling the iPhone and the iPad will become increasingly difficult for Apple in the coming times. Last month, UBS analyst Steven Milunovich lowered his iPhone sales estimates for the March, June, and September quarters of 2013 by 5 million units per quarter; while also slashing his iPad sales estimates during the quarters by 2 million for each quarter.

The lowered quarterly sales projections by Milunovich, as well as Apple's reported cut of iPhone 5 component orders, suggest that Apple is facing challenges in both smartphone and tablet arena; thanks largely to Samsung Galaxy S line of handsets and low-cost Android tablets respectively.