Rumor: Apple shipped 13M iPads in Q3, short of internal forecasts

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
A new report claims that Apple shipped a record-setting 13 million iPad units in the third quarter of calendar 2011, but suggests that sum did not meet the company's internal goals.



The data comes from a new report on Tuesday from DigiTimes, which claimed that Apple's iPad sales "only reached 13 million units with a sequential growth of 36.8%." It said that Apple's shipments were "impacted by the weakening global economy."



Whether or not iPad shipments fell short of Apple's expectations, sales of 13 million units would be a record setting quarter for the company. That number would handily best the 9.25 million iPads the company sold in its previous June quarter.



In addition, if Apple were to have sold 13 million iPads last quarter, that number would exceed Wall Street expectations. In general, analysts have called for Apple to report sales of around 11 million iPads.



The data point from DigiTimes was presented as a disappointment in the context of lower sequential growth. Across the entire tablet market, shipments reportedly reached 18.7 million units in the third quarter, a sequential increase of 27.5 percent, or less than half of the 60.9 percent sequential growth seen in the second quarter of 2011.



But the numbers, if accurate, also show that Apple outpaced the rest of the tablet industry in a market that the company's iPad already dominates. When the iPad is removed, non-iPad tablets saw growth of just 10.1 percent in the quarter.







The report also said that some tablet makers have reorganized their suppliers, which has caused a shift in supplier rankings. For example, in terms of CPU shipments, Nvidia is said to be the second-largest supplier, while Texas Instruments dropped to fourth place.



Apple is set to reveal its iPad shipments in the company's quarterly earnings report this afternoon. AppleInsider will have full, live coverage.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 67
    Suck!
  • Reply 2 of 67
    Wow! Look! Record sales and almost 40% sequential growth!!! Better than the industry by far.

    But that's never enough for analysts huh?

    How did they find out 'internal goals'?
  • Reply 3 of 67
    Two words, baby:



    Amazon. Fire.
  • Reply 4 of 67
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Stock manipulation story number ?
  • Reply 5 of 67
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by studiomusic View Post


    Wow! Look! Record sales and almost 40% sequential growth!!! Better than the industry by far.

    But that's never enough for analysts huh?

    How did they find out 'internal goals'?



    Actually, if you read the story, it's more than the analysts are projecting.



    What we have here is someone starting a rumor that the currently rumored Q4 sales will be short of the previous rumored Q4 sales. IOW, totally useless click bait.
  • Reply 6 of 67
    The analysis is talking about shipments, not sales.



    This is how the analysts temper Apple's stock.



    The stock should be at $550 so they keep it lower knowing that when the sales forecasts come in today they are forced to raise their targets, once more.



    They make money off the volatility through shorting either way and if they see large purchases willing to sit on the stock they make jack squat for commissions.



    Europe has Apple at $422.63.



    We'll see Apple kiss $450 if the numbers are where any half-wit figures them to be.



    It'll settle back down to around $435-440 by week's end.



    On the other hand, if Google had anything remotely in the vicinity of Apple their stock jumps $50-$100 on such news.



    The day when Google's ``Information is King'' theory runs dry will be a great day in the world of Computing.
  • Reply 7 of 67
    shenshen Posts: 434member
    Total market shipments reached 18.7 million? What was sold? Have the other makers finally filled the channels and their ships are stopping? Are all the shipped non-iPads new products that have some channel room?



    If Apple reports something wild like 16 million, watch the heads explode, but 13.5 -14.5 is more likely...
  • Reply 8 of 67
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,520member
    The iPhone 4S will give a nice bump to the figures today!
  • Reply 9 of 67
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by xSamplex View Post


    Two words, baby:



    Amazon. Fire.



    Right...



    Apple must love the Amazon Fire if the effect it has is giving them 40% sequential growth, faster than the rest of the market in an industry it leads significantly.



    I can see sales being lower than expected, but that is far more likely because of the fire sales competing tablets (especially the Touchpad) have had, than the Amazon offering.
  • Reply 10 of 67
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by studiomusic View Post


    How did they find out 'internal goals'?



    Of course they did not. That does not prevent them saying so.....



    The noise-to-signal ratio before an AAPL earnings announcement is always something to behold.



    Buy, hold for the long haul, and forget about the quarter-to-quarter chatter. All noise.
  • Reply 11 of 67
    in a challenged economy, where savings are being eroded, salaries are stagnating and unemployment is so high, I do wonder how many more people take on board the attitude "do I want this or do I need this".

    I do believe the ipad is a want not a need and therefore it's penetration into the masses will be limited.

    Sorry if this is a bit negative, but I do see the ipad this way for myself, I'd love one, but I don't actually need one (my MBP does sterling work).
  • Reply 12 of 67
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by xSamplex View Post


    Two words, baby:



    Amazon. Fire.



    Two words for you baby:



    Dream. On.



    Two words for everyone else:



    Digitimes. Lies.
  • Reply 13 of 67
    shompashompa Posts: 343member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by xSamplex View Post


    Two words, baby:



    Amazon. Fire.



    Yes. Amazon sold millions of them last quarter.
  • Reply 14 of 67
    shompashompa Posts: 343member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by woodbine View Post


    in a challenged economy, where savings are being eroded, salaries are stagnating and unemployment is so high, I do wonder how many more people take on board the attitude "do I want this or do I need this".

    I do believe the ipad is a want not a need and therefore it's penetration into the masses will be limited.

    Sorry if this is a bit negative, but I do see the ipad this way for myself, I'd love one, but I don't actually need one (my MBP does sterling work).



    The median income in US is 50,233 dollars.

    Most people are doing fine.



    Instead of cigarettes or drinking: buy an iPad.
  • Reply 15 of 67
    shompashompa Posts: 343member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by saarek View Post


    The iPhone 4S will give a nice bump to the figures today!



    Nope.

    Iphone4S was not released last quarter.



    But if Apple misses Iphone4 targets, they can always tell the investors that they have sold upward 5 million. And this is just in a few countries. Iphone4S will be released in 70 countries in the world before years end.
  • Reply 16 of 67
    shompashompa Posts: 343member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    The analysis is talking about shipments, not sales.



    This is how the analysts temper Apple's stock.



    The stock should be at $550 so they keep it lower knowing that when the sales forecasts come in today they are forced to raise their targets, once more.



    They make money off the volatility through shorting either way and if they see large purchases willing to sit on the stock they make jack squat for commissions.



    Europe has Apple at $422.63.



    We'll see Apple kiss $450 if the numbers are where any half-wit figures them to be.



    It'll settle back down to around $435-440 by week's end.



    On the other hand, if Google had anything remotely in the vicinity of Apple their stock jumps $50-$100 on such news.



    The day when Google's ``Information is King'' theory runs dry will be a great day in the world of Computing.



    If Apple wasn't the world largest market cap company, it would be valued totally different.



    Just 2 years ago Apple had a P/E high 20is.

    Today P/E 17 and trailing P/E2. Apple valuation is almost 50% less then 3 years ago.



    Apple will today have 80-100 billion in cash. That is 20-25% of their share price!



    Apple have an average growth of 63% last 5 years. P/E should be upwards 60-100 if it was valued as other companies. The problem is that Apple would be worth more then most countries in the world.
  • Reply 17 of 67
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,255member
    Less than 15 million would be a little disappointing (at least to me).



    But still, it's just a bump in the road. Europe is in a real economic crisis and Apple hasn't added as many new stores in China as they had hoped. Plus there were fire sales last quarter as competitors liquidated inventory of their failed tablet efforts and that might have distracted some consumers. None of those things are permanent and Apple still totally dominates the market.



    Longer term, the key sales figure is how many iPads apple sells between now and the introduction of Windows 8 tablets next year (I think those will be the real competitors to iPads -- not the lame Android copy-cats that we've seen so far). If Apple is selling about 25 million iPads per quarter (so an annualized rate of 100 million) at the time that Win8 tablets hit the market, then I think Apple will have achieved an insurmountable lead. But if Apple is selling in the range of 15 million per quarter at that time then MS could have an opening. My money is on the higher number.
  • Reply 18 of 67
    mrstepmrstep Posts: 513member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    Actually, if you read the story, it's more than the analysts are projecting.



    What we have here is someone starting a rumor that the currently rumored Q4 sales will be short of the previous rumored Q4 sales. IOW, totally useless click bait.



    It's not click bait, it's the usually stock manipulation that surrounds Apple's earnings reports. Analysts want volatility for their firms, or sometimes need to help drive the price up or down to cover positions they're taken. Look at most of their useless declarations - if accuracy mattered, they're be fired.



    I guess the good news is that technically it's not a conflict of interest because colluding with the investment division of the company is in their overall interest and should be self-evident to people looking at their statements.
  • Reply 19 of 67
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shompa View Post


    The median income in US is 50,233 dollars.



    Median income for men in the US (2009) is about $32,000 and women, $21,000. See Table 701, http://www.census.gov/compendia/stat...es/12s0701.pdf



    You may be talking about the mean.
  • Reply 20 of 67
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post


    Stock manipulation story number ?



    Like the "Apple will start paying dividends in next fiscal year" rumor?
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