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Apple will announce 4M more iPhone sales than supply chain data suggests, says Morgan Stanley

Photo: digitaltrends.com

Photo: digitaltrends.com

Predictions of disappointing Q2 iPhone sales could be unduly pessimistic, says Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty. She expects Apple to announce that it shipped 42M iPhones in the first quarter of the year (Apple’s fiscal Q2), rather than the 38M suggested by supply chain analysis, reports Business Insider. This would represent year-on-year growth of more than 4.5M handsets.

Huberty says that the supply chain may work in overdrive during the holiday quarter to generate extra product, and then ease back in the March quarter, thus giving an unreliable read out on sales.

Huberty bases her estimate on a method which sounds eccentric but has an excellent track-record … 

Huberty’s numbers are pulled from the AlphaWise Smartphone Tracker, which uses analysis of web searches. While this sounds bizarre, the tracker has proven more accurate that the Wall Street consensus estimates for three out of the last four quarters.

tracker

We’ll have a while to wait to find out: Apple is expected to announce its Q2 numbers on or around 23rd April.

Apple reported all-time quarterly highs for both iPhone and iPad sales in Q1, though the stock market was seemingly unimpressed, having expected even more.

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Comments

  1. Carlos R. Batista - 10 years ago

    Apple could sell 100 million iPhones and everyone will still call out for doom days. By now we should know better that the more Apple makes the more people predict it to die.

  2. Tim Neuman - 10 years ago

    Do some simple research you moron. So what if Samsung sells more phones, they still make less money. Are you foolish enough to believe that selling 3 phones for $50 dollars beats selling 1 phone for $600. It’s not about numbers it’s about margin. Since Tim Cook took over Apple stock price is actually by approximately 40%. Don’t shoot your mouth off unless you know what you’re talking about.

  3. scumbolt2014 - 10 years ago

    Apple could sell everyone in the U..S. 2 iPhones each in a year and these analyst dumbfucks would still say Apple is done.

  4. jerryfromcan - 10 years ago

    I have never in my life seen a 5c in the wild. I saw one on TV last night…

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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