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Three-quarters of the way through Apple's holiday quarter, a slew of analysts have increased their calculations of the company's performance, while expecting record iPhone sales on the back of Apple's most successful iPhone launch ever.
Interestingly, Citi analyst Richard Gardner claims to have specifically heard that Apple just last week made a significant boost to its iPhone orders with suppliers, suggesting significant upside for the current quarter.
Our meetings in Taiwan suggest that Apple raised 4CQ11 iPhone orders to suppliers meaningfully just last week. The new iPhone build plan is meaningfully above the low-30’s million figure that we were hearing previously. Given such a significant order increase at this late stage in the quarter, it seems clear that Apple is headed for a meaningful upside surprise on iPhone shipments this quarter.
Other analyst updates include:
- Maynard Um of UBS raised his estimate of iPhones sold on the quarter to 30 million from 28. Um noted that his team believes the 30 million number is still conservative, especially with an iPhone 4S launch in China pending.
- Shaw Wu of Stern Agee raised his iPhone expectations from 26 million to 28 million, though he believes those numbers could run even higher thanks to high demand from Asia.
- William Power of R.W. Baird raised his iPhone estimate to 31.2 million units.
- Mark Moskowitz of JP Morgan raised his iPhone estimates to 28 million units from 25.3 million.
- Mike Walkley of Canaccord Genuity raised his iPhone estimate to 30.5 million from 29 million units, saying "our November checks indicated strong global iPhone sales with Apple share gains versus Android smartphones in the US and Western Europe".
While the iPhone is expected to be a powerhouse this quarter, Power, Moskowitz and Walkley all cut expectations slightly on the iPad.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, on the most recent Apple earnings call in mid-October weighed in with his own expectations, saying his team was "very confident that we will set an all-time record in the December quarter for iPhone sales."
Top Rated Comments
I went from the 3Gs to Android. Owned the HTC EVO, the G2x and the Nexus S. Finally went back to the iPhone 4S. It's so easy to get caught up in what Android has to offer, but in the end I think the email app is so much better on iOS. The apps are polished and perfect. I don't have the widgets, which I was down to using just a weather widget anyway. Love Siri. The iPhone 4S just has a much better response. It's more fluid and dynamic. Android feels clunky to me. Your milage may vary.
I can't figure out what your comment means. How could it be sad that more and more people are equiping themselves with the best technology available on the planet? I purchased an iPhone 4 just a few months ago, and I'm far from sad about it. It's providing me with all I need.
Based on the other analysts estimates I just raised my estimate to 30.49 million, can you add my name to that list if I tell you I am an analyst?
That's nonsense. If that was "almost a guarantee" then the stock price would be higher today.
Fall for what? Maybe I broke my iPhone 4 and it's out of warranty, what do I do? I buy a 4S, not the 4. You're ignorance to the multitude of possibilities someone would buy the 4S is sad.