Apple's Television Already in Production, Says Jefferies

In a new report on upcoming Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) products, Jefferies analysts said that they believe that the Mac maker's long-awaited television is already in production.

"We believe the iTV is in full production," Jefferies wrote. "Recent data out of Sharp, Hon Hai, and other specialty chemical and TV component suppliers support this. Also, JDSU noted that they have a new non-gaming customer for its gesture control modules. They indicated this is a new 'living room' based customer. We believe Apple will leverage AT&T's (NYSE: T) and Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) content deals for the iTV. Additionally, the WSJ's sources indicate Apple may also consider a set-top box version for the cable operators."

That said, Jefferies dose not think that Apple will choose to announce its first television during its upcoming event in September. Instead, tech enthusiasts can expect the Mac maker to introduce the iPhone 5 -- and possibly the iPad Mini. "For the iPhone 5, we remain confident that by mid-September Apple will have ~15M in finished goods inventory. We believe 3GS, 4 and 4S builds continue into Q4. Pricing for all of those models has been slashed already."

Jefferies added that total iPhone builds for H2:CY12 are "well in excess of 80M vs. our estimate of 81M."

"We do not know if Apple will have a separate announcement event in Oct for the iPad Mini, and while we also think an iTV will be ready for a CQ4 launch, we do not know how many major product announcements Apple would want to cram into Sep/Oct/Nov and see a CQ1 launch as possible," Jefferies concluded.

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