iPhone 5 Sales Predicted to Hit 8 Million Units in Launch Weekend

Following Apple's announcement earlier today that it took two million iPhone 5 pre-orders in the first 24 hours of availability, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has published a new research note predicting that Apple will achieve sales in the range of 6-10 million units for the opening weekend, with the mid-range number of 8 million units being used for modeling purposes. Munster bases his predictions on the strong pre-order numbers and comparisons to last year's performance for the iPhone 4S.

Given the 2 million pre-orders, we remain confident that Apple can deliver 8 million (range of 6-10 million) iPhones in the launch weekend. The reason we are confident in the 8 million is two-fold. First, initial 24 hour pre-orders for the iPhone 5 were up 100% y/y from the iPhone 4S. Last year, pre-orders accounted for 25% of total weekend launch unit sales. Assuming the same initial pre-order/retail distribution, the pre-order total would suggest 8 million launch units.

Last year, Apple reported that first-day pre-orders for the iPhone 4S "topped one million", with that number translating into over four million units sold in the opening weekend of actual sales.

iphone launch weekend sales comparison
Munster notes that with Apple's fourth fiscal quarter of 2012 coming to a close at the end of September and the company already quoting shipping estimates of 2-3 weeks for new iPhone 5 pre-orders, some of the launch weekend total may actually bleed over into the following quarter, as Apple recognizes revenue once orders ship to customers.

Related Forum: iPhone

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Top Rated Comments

ECUpirate44 Avatar
166 months ago
Competition seems to be doing well.
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Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
STiNG Operation Avatar
166 months ago
8 Million times the average dollar amount of all the iPhones sold equals....
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Caliber26 Avatar
166 months ago
It doesn't take a genius to figure out who's a winner inside and outside of court.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
adcx64 Avatar
166 months ago
This is amazing, I'm sure Steve's smiling from heaven.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2bikes Avatar
166 months ago
This is a the biggest flop I have ever seen.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
IamRob Avatar
166 months ago
iphone huh? does the phone company come to my house to install it? I'd prefer avocado as that is the color of the rest of the kitchen

are you on drugs?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)