Apple on July 21 will post its earnings results for the June quarter and, as is typically the case, all eyes will be laser focused on quarterly iPhone sales. Because the iPhone remains Apple’s main driver of revenue, analysts understandably tend to gauge Apple’s future financial prospects by measuring and evaluating iPhone sales growth.
For the upcoming June quarter, Apple will have some lofty expectations to meet. During the company’s most recent quarter, iPhone sales increased by 40% year over year. Incredibly, it’s starting to look that Apple will even top that growth figure come July 21.
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Ahead of Apple’s upcoming earnings announcement, a slew of analysts are anticipating quarterly iPhone sales to check in at over 50 million units. Specifically, Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley believes Apple will report iPhone sales of 53 million while Steve Milunovich of UBS is expecting iPhone sales to fall in the 50.3 million range.
By way of contrast, Apple during its June quarter a year-ago sold 35.2 million iPhones. That being the case, if Huberty’s estimate pans out, Apple’s iPhone sales year over year will have increased by a staggering 50%. If we go back to 2013, sales of 53 million iPhones would mean that Apple managed to increase unit sales by 70% over a two year period.
No matter how you look at it, it’s hard, if not impossible, to deny that the iPhone continues to be a freight train that simply can’t be stopped. This is made all the more impressive given that the iPhone has supposedly been peaking for years on end now, according to ill-informed pundits anyways.
Even more jarring is that iPhone sales aren’t just growing, but may even be accelerating. During Apple’s two most recent June quarters, for instance, Apple iPhone sales growth checked in somewhere between 12 and 20%. An sales increase in the 50% range for the June quarter would be Apple’s highest since 2011.
Looking ahead even further, the upcoming iPhone 6s may take iPhone sales to even greater heights. As we’ve previously noted, the iPhone 6s is well positioned to shatter all previous iPhone sales records. This is in large part due to the fact that the current pool of iPhone users in the market to upgrade is larger now than it’s ever been before. Speaking to this point, there are an estimated 355 million users who are using iPhone 5s devices or earlier.
Meanwhile, sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S6 aren’t doing too hot. As we reported earlier today, S6 sales are coming in below expectations, with some analysts projecting that Samsung’s quarterly profit is poised to drop 24% year over year.
