Apple shipped 66 million iPhones in fiscal Q1 2019, estimates Strategy Analytics
Strategy Analytics estimates Apple's iPhone shipments during the October-December quarter to be around 66 million, a sharp decline from the previous year.
According to the latest figures from Strategy Analytics, Apple moved 65.9 million units during the holiday quarter, which is down from 77.3 million in the year-ago quarter. If accurate, the estimate represents a 15 percent drop in unit sales year-over-year.
Apple no longer reports quarterly unit quantities for its major product lines, including iPhone, though analysts continue to delivery their own figures.
During the quarterly call, Apple did reveal that there are 900 million iPhones currently in the wild, a huge portion of the 1.4 billion active Apple-branded devices in use around the world. Today was the first time Apple offered statistics on its gross iPhone install base, a move perhaps designed to alleviate concerns about its decision to no longer include unit sales in quarterly reports.
CEO Tim Cook commented on slowing iPhone sales more than once during the investor conference call, citing several reasons for the dip year-over-year.
"We do design our products to last as long as possible," Cook said. "Some people hang on to those for the life of the product and some people trade them in and then that phone is redistributed to someone else. The upgrade cycle has extended, there's no doubt about that."
Cook said pricing was also a factor, particularly outside the U.S. where the strength of the U.S. dollar has made iPhones more expensive than anticipated.
He also noted that a drawdown in carrier subsidies impacted iPhone momentum.
"Even though the subsidy has gone away for a period of time, if you're a customer whose last purchase was a 6S or a 6 or even in some cases a 7, you may have paid $199 for it. Now we're in the unbundled world, it's obviously much more than that," he said.
According to the latest figures from Strategy Analytics, Apple moved 65.9 million units during the holiday quarter, which is down from 77.3 million in the year-ago quarter. If accurate, the estimate represents a 15 percent drop in unit sales year-over-year.
Apple no longer reports quarterly unit quantities for its major product lines, including iPhone, though analysts continue to delivery their own figures.
During the quarterly call, Apple did reveal that there are 900 million iPhones currently in the wild, a huge portion of the 1.4 billion active Apple-branded devices in use around the world. Today was the first time Apple offered statistics on its gross iPhone install base, a move perhaps designed to alleviate concerns about its decision to no longer include unit sales in quarterly reports.
CEO Tim Cook commented on slowing iPhone sales more than once during the investor conference call, citing several reasons for the dip year-over-year.
"We do design our products to last as long as possible," Cook said. "Some people hang on to those for the life of the product and some people trade them in and then that phone is redistributed to someone else. The upgrade cycle has extended, there's no doubt about that."
Cook said pricing was also a factor, particularly outside the U.S. where the strength of the U.S. dollar has made iPhones more expensive than anticipated.
He also noted that a drawdown in carrier subsidies impacted iPhone momentum.
"Even though the subsidy has gone away for a period of time, if you're a customer whose last purchase was a 6S or a 6 or even in some cases a 7, you may have paid $199 for it. Now we're in the unbundled world, it's obviously much more than that," he said.
Comments
If you divide the previous quarters ASP by the revenue this quarter you get....wait for it.....66 million iPhones.
Now where's my paycheque?
Let's look at reality:
Net sales was $84.3 billion. With the exception of the 1st quarter last year, that's the highest first quarter Apple has ever had.
Net income was $19.965 billion. With the exception of the 1st quarter last year, that's the highest first quarter Apple has ever had.
Net sales were down 5%. But net income was only down 0.5%. It should be considered a positive that non-iPhone products are taking a bigger share of Apple's net sales because it leaves Apple somewhat less dependent upon a single product line.
iPhone net sales were down 14.9%, but the analysts and news media are concentrating on the larger percentage number that Apple is down in China, in spite of the fact that the U.S. is the largest market for Apple. IMO, the high unit sales in China were always a fluke because the overwhelming majority of the population cannot afford an iPhone. It should have been quite obvious that with all the Android phones that copied Apple and the fact that most are manufactured in China, it was only a matter of time before there would be lower cost home-grown phones in China. Duh!
iPhone Net sales $ were down 14.9%. But iPad sales were up 16.9%, Mac sales were up 8.7%, Services was up 19.1% and the Wearables, Home and Accessories category was up 33.3%. Services alone, if it were spun off, would be a Fortune 500 company.
Take fiscal 2018 out of the equation and people would be celebrating Apple's great first quarter record breaking success.
Having said all that, Apple does need another killer product line. Phones have reached maturity and with increasing prices and mostly no longer any subsidies (in the U.S.), consumers are not going to upgrade them as often. Anecdotal, but I'm still using an iPhone 6. Had I been able to get a new phone for a $200 to $300 buy-in like I used to, I'd have a new model. I'll probably buy a new model in Fall 2019, when the newest models are released.