Analysts believe the steady sales of iPhones, with even the older versions doing good, Apple will experience a boost in its sales and expansion even more
Apple is all set to release its quarterly report today and investors are keen on understanding exactly how well the flagship phone of the American consumer giant, iPhone X, priced at US$ 1,000 (the most expensive iPhone till date), is doing in the smartphone market.
Analysts say iPhones Average Selling Price to increase
According to a recent report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), the new releases of iPhones accounted for 54 per cent of Apple’s sales. However, amidst much hype regarding the US$ 1,000 flagship phone – iPhone X, the report has shown that iPhone 8 Plus was the popular choice among consumers against iPhone X. While 8 Plus contributed to 24 per cent of the sales, iPhone 8 and iPhone X contributed to 13 per cent and 17 per cent of the sales, respectively.
In fact, Josh Lowitz, CIRP Partner and Co-Founder, said that last year the then newly-launched models such as iPhone 7 and 7 had accounted for more than 80 per cent of the sales by the second quarter of the financial year. He added: “And, the iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, and SE grabbed 20% in the past quarter, virtually the same as in the June 2017 quarter, though at lower price points. So, it looks two-year-old legacy iPhones have squeezed the newer models. Still, because Apple increased base storage and boosted prices, we expect Average Selling Price to increase nicely over the June 2017 quarter.”
Analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg and created by Cupertino, California-based technology giant is most likely to announce the July quarter of Apple’s sales at US$ 52.3 billion – almost 15 per cent growth on year-on-year (YoY) revenue and the strongest such hike for Apple’s June quarter since 2015. Cupertino analysts also believe that iPhones will have higher Average Selling Price and this blended with hiked services revenue and unit sales growth for Apple Watch, will boost the sales and expansion of the global tech-major.
YoY revenue to see a surge of at least 15 per cent
In the same June quarter of the previous fiscal year, Apple generated US$ 45.4 billion revenue and Thomson Reuters’ analysts think that the consumer-giant will produce US$ 52.3 revenues this year – an increase by 15 per cent.
On the other hand, Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C.Bernstein & Co. believes that the iPhone revenue will grow by approximately 17 per cent YoY, with the company already selling 41.8 million iPhones in June quarter – surge by approximately 2 per cent from last year.
September quarter review to throw light on the unveiling of next iPhone
Like CIRP analysts’ views, the continuous sales of iPhones – be it the flagship products or the old ones, imply that Apple will most likely introduce its next iPhone line-up in or somewhere around September 2018.
In fact, analysts have reportedly said that they are expecting Apple’s September quarter revenue to generate approximately US$ 59.5 billion – a 15 per cent YoY growth. Gene Munster, a veteran Apple analyst and co-founder of Loup Ventures, said, “We’re looking for 3 per cent growth this quarter, one per cent growth next quarter, and flat growth next year, leading analysts to model for the iPhone growth story coming to a close.”
Apple Services has been the biggest hit in recent years, say analysts
Apple’s services that include AppleCare, Apple Pay Fees, music streaming, games sales and not to forget the app, has been the biggest contributor of sales. Analysts from Bernstein research believe that the services wing of the consumer-tech giant will generate US$ 9 billion revenue in the current fiscal year’s June quarter. In fact, Apple Services has almost become the size of a Fortune 100 company.
With new iPad Pros and iPhone X features, iPad sales are expected to grow
Analysts though contradict in predicting the expected revenue generated by Apple’s iPad business, they have said that sales from this section will most likely have a good report. Cross Research has predicted the iPad unit sales to be 12.1 million in the June quarter of the current fiscal while Bernstein has said it will be 10 million.
Apple is eyeing to generate more sales from the iPad business by focusing on new iPad Pros and iPhone X features, targeting the education market. Analysts expect that this new strategy will boost the September quarter sales and the forthcoming holiday and festive season sales as well. Bernstein has predicted that the Average Selling Price of an iPad in the September quarter will be US$ 440.
Apple Watch that recently generated global 3.5 million shipments
We had earlier reported that a new report by Singapore-based research firm, Canalys, revealed that Apple Watch has shipped 3.5 million watches in the second quarter of 2018 – a 30 per cent hike from the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.
Asia accounted for most sales with Indian market contributing the most. Last year, Apple had joined hands with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. The telco majors released special data plans for e-SIM enabled Apple Watch Series 3 LTE.
However, the global market shares of Apple Watch dropped to 34 per cent from 43 per cent because with global smart watch shipments counting to 10 million.
