Source: Kindle Fire Shipments Reach 3-4M, Could Hit 5M by January

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Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

Reporters crowd around the new Kindle Fire at a news conference during the launch of Amazon's new tablets.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire has shipped between three and four million units, reports DigiTimes, for which the takeaway almost has to be: How’s your guesstimate margin of error a million units, one way or another?

Either way, OEM Quanta Computer’s production of the 7-inch Android-based tablet and ostensible iPad rival appears to be soaring. DigiTimes’ sources say to expect total OEM Kindle Fire shipments to reach five million, either by the end of this month or early in January.

The Kindle Fire’s touch panel supplier, Wintek, recently bumped up its Amazon shipment forecast, and sources estimate the company could ship up to 3.5 million Kindle Fire touch panels by the end of December.

That said, DigiTimes’ sources say that some in the supply chain are hedging inventory against demand, slowly building up their supply of on-hand parts, but keeping shipments routine to avoid a glut of inventory in case demand suddenly tapers off and Amazon changes its mind on order quantities.

MORE: What’s Inside Amazon’s Kindle Fire: A PlayBook