Apple's stock witnessed a 5.1 percent drop, to $570.27, at 11:03 a. m. in New York on Wednesday, after the company reported that its 26 million iPhone sales in the April-June quarter had missed Bloomberg-surveyed analysts' estimates of 28.4 million unit sales of the popular smartphone.

Despite the fact that Apple's net income rose 21 percent to $8.82 billion, or $9.32 a share, during the mentioned quarter - which happens to be Apple's third fiscal quarter -, the figures still fell short of the analysts' projections of a $10.37 per share profit on $37.2 billion revenue.

With the missed quarterly sales estimates by Apple being a clear indication of the company's reliance on iPhone's demand, its failure to meet the analysts' expectations was essentially an upshot of the iPhone lull which the company is currently witnessing, prior to the forthcoming release of its much-awaited next-generation iPhone - the iPhone 5.

Since Apple follows a once-a-year upgrade policy for the iPhone, which accounts for nearly 50 percent of the company's sales, customers are presently holding up their purchases of the handset while waiting for the launch of the newest model.

Noting that rival Samsung, have "a much faster design cycle" than Apple and releases several designs every year, Michael Obuchowski - a portfolio manager at Apple-share-owner North Shore Asset Management - said that Apple needs to "come up with a new phone that's competitive not just when it comes out, but will stay competitive for a long period of time."