Apple (AAPL) missed Wall Street’s estimates last week when it posted results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, but it still managed a record profit of $8.2 billion thanks largely to the popularity of its iPhone lineup. The new iPhone 5 became the fastest-selling smartphone of all time when Apple sold more than 5 million of them during the device’s debut weekend, and iPhone sales for the quarter came in at 26.9 million units. As impressive as that figure is, it’s nothing compared to what we can seemingly expect from Apple in 2013.
According to a recent research note from Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley, Apple will sell 194 million iPhone handsets in 2013. The sky-high figure represents an average of more than 48.5 million units each quarter — Apple’s biggest quarter for iPhone sales to this point was the holiday quarter last year, when Apple sold 37 million handsets.
Walkley believes Apple’s chief rival Samsung (005930) will move 303.6 million smartphones during the same period.
The analyst also thinks Apple’s iPad lineup will get a big boost from the iPad mini in 2013, with sales on the year expected to total 101.6 million units. Apple sold 14 million iPads last quarter but Walkey’s estimates represent an average of 25.4 million units per month.
Updated to clarify time period covered by Canaccord’s estimates.
