“A funny thing happened on the way to the so-called ‘tough comp’ — the challenge Apple was expected to face improving on the record set in the last three months of 2014 by runaway sales of the iPhone 6,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
“What happened? The goal post got moved,” P.E.D. reports. “After Tim Cook assured analysts in October that Apple was on track to beat that 74.5 million record, investor anxiety shifted to the March quarter, where last year’s post-Christmas sale of 61.2 million iPhones seemed even farther out of reach.”
“But first things first. Apple will release those long-feared December quarter result in two weeks, and there is still the possibility of a surprise in either direction,” P.E.D. reports. “Among the 32 Apple analysts we’ve heard from so far—24 Wall Street professionals and eight veteran amateurs—all but four are taking Tim Cook at his word. The average unit sales estimate has fallen somewhat since we polled the group in October — to 76.5 million from 78 million — and expected year-over-year growth has shrunk accordingly (to 2.8% from 4.7%). But only four analysts polled think Apple is going to come up short of its 74.5 million record.”
Read more, and see all of the individual analysts’ iPhone unit sales estimates, in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yet another all-time quarterly iPhone unit sales record looms.
One thing is for sure: All eyes will be on Apple’s guidance for Q216.
SEE ALSO:
Apple to release Q116 earnings, webcast live conference call on January 26th – January 5, 2016