Report: iPhone 13 sales strong during holiday season, Apple’s services business worth $1.5 trillion

In a note to investors, Wedbush’s analyst Daniel Ives writes that iPhone 13 sales were strong in December, and that Apple’s services business continues to grow.

As posted on Philip Elmer-DeWitt’s blog, Daniel Ives is more positive than ever regarding Apple’s iPhone 13. A previous report by Bloomberg, for example, said that Apple was limited by how many iPhones could be assembled with available parts.

The company has told its component suppliers that demand for the iPhone 13 lineup has weakened, people familiar with the matter said, signaling that some consumers have decided against trying to get the hard-to-find item, Bloomberg News reports.

Not only that but Bloomberg had also reported that Apple cut its iPhone 13 production plans by 10 million units due to part constraints including the ongoing global chip shortage. Now, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives says the opposite:

(…) We instead are focused on the robust consumer demand story shaping up for iPhone 13 into 2022. Based on our supply chain checks over the last few weeks, we believe demand is outstripping supply for Apple by roughly 12 million units in the December quarter which now will add to the tailwinds for Cupertino in the March and June quarters as the supply chain issues ease in 1H22.’

Ives believe Apple “is in the midst of its strongest product cycle in over a decade led by iPhone 13.” Wedbush says “the linchpin to Apple’s valuation re-rating remains its Service business which we believe is worth $1.5 trillion in the eyes of the Street, coupled by its flagship hardware ecosystem.”

The Services business is further monetizing the Apple golden installed base and poised to reach $100 billion+ annual revenue by 2024.

With the company expanding its service business availability worldwide, with Fitness+ arriving in more countries than ever, and the company readying the launch of its rumored AR headset, it’s only natural that services are a very important part of Apple’s ecosystem.

Last but not least, Ives says that Apple is “on pace to become the first $3 trillion market cap company in 2022.” By the end of 2021, analysts thought Apple would already have surpassed this mark, but it seems this won’t take long to happen.