How much are the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus absolutely crushing it right now? So much that Digitimes‘ supply-chain sources say the devices are expected to help Apple sell 50 million more iPhones this quarter, a year-over-year increase of 14.4% from the 43.7 million units sold in the same quarter in 2014.
RELATED: The single most incredible thing about Apple’s world-beating quarter
The major reason that iPhone sales are projected to be higher than last year has a lot to do with the Chinese market, Digitimes‘ sources say.
“Demand for smartphones in the Greater China area during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays will maintain sales of iPhone devices in the first quarter,” the publication writes. “Apple’s sales in the Greater China area, mainly China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, totaled US$16.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014, increasing 70% from a year earlier, according to company data.”
Apple sold an astonishing 74.4 million iPhones over the holiday quarter, which is even more remarkable considering that the average selling price of iPhones has actually been going up ever since the launch of the iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus.
This issignificant because for a long time the iPhone has been Apple’s main “profit monster” and has delivered higher gross margins than any other Apple product around. With record quarterly sales and an ASP that’s still on the rise, Apple can practically print money with its iPhone business at this point.
