KeyBanc analyst John Vinh says his latest carrier surveys indicate stable sell-through of Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 8/X, and in line with store expectations. Accordingly, days of inventory have normalized at about 5 DOI and are consistent with healthy levels seen in past cycles, he adds. Conversely, the analyst notes that sell-through of the Samsung's (SSNLF) GS9 continues to deteriorate, accompanied by an increase in DOI. However, he notes a significant reduction in absolute inventories. While GS9 gives him pause, stable sell-through, and normalized iPhone 8/X inventories leave him incrementally more constructive ahead of the 2H ramp of the new iPhone 9 cycle. Vihn recommends investors continue to own Broadcom (AVGO), Skyworks (SWKS), and Synaptics (SYNA).

Apple saw sales of its iPhones fall 19.1% in the first three months of the year, CNBC's Ryan Browne reports, citing data from Counterpoint Research. Meanwhile, Huawei saw a 69.7% surge in smartphone sales in the country during the same period, Counterpoint said. Reference Link