Apple Stock News
Recent estimates have Apple receiving 92% of all profits among the top eight smartphone makers in the mobile smartphone market during the first quarter. This is according to Canaccord Genuity managing director Mike Walkley, and is up from 65% last year due to the overwhelming success of the iPhone 6. Its share of profits is incredible considering it sells less than 20% of all smartphone units, highlighting the company’s ability to command higher prices for its superior products. Now, it appears that Apple believes it will continue to sell its iPhones at a breakneck pace.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Apple is stepping up its productions plans for its newest phone, the iPhone 6s. The newest model will be an incremental update over its predecessor, much like the iPhone 4s and iPhone 5s were in the past. In the past, the tech giant has announced the updated model in early September before launching the phone later that month. Apple has reportedly told it manufacturing partners to prepare for an initial production run of 85 to 90 million phones by the end of the year, compared to an initial production plan of 70 to 80 million units for the iPhone 6 last year.
After iPhone 6 sales set new records last year and recorded a huge increase over the prior year, and because the iPhone 6s is only expected to be an incremental update, sales projections for the newer phones have been muted, with a projected increase of only 1%. The current production plans point to continued increased growth, however, as the company is expected to record 36% growth during the current fiscal year. One likely factor is China, where a large percentage of customers have an iPhone 5s or older version, leaving plenty of room for growth.