Did Apple Sell 70 Million iPhones?

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 30, 10:39AM EST · Published Jan 28, 6:20AM EST

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Did Apple Sell 70 Million iPhones? — © Apple Inc.

As Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) announces sales for the holiday quarter, investors will look to revenue from its burgeoning services business. It is, most experts believe, the future of the company. However, the iPhone, critical to Apple’s success for so long, may post surprising strength and drive the sharply rising stock even higher.

iPhone sales reached an extraordinary level of 78 million in the holiday quarter of 2016. Sales have run below that since then, sometimes much below. Analysts believe that new iPhones have not been enough of an upgrade from their predecessors over the past three years. The upgrade cycle slowed. However, it may have picked up again.

The iPhone 11 has sold briskly, according to nearly every estimate of its unit sales. The holiday quarter was the first when the iPhone 11 was available for an entire quarter. The iPhone 11’s camera, speedy processor, video capture and battery life appear to be different enough from earlier iPhones that the “replacement cycle” may have sped up. It will need to have surged for Apple stock to move higher than the 100% rise that it has posted over the past year.

If iPhone sales did indeed hit record levels, investors will begin to look to the iPhone 12. It should be released this fall. There are rumors that there will be six versions. That means it will be available at enough price points that people who want an “affordable” version can buy an iPhone 12. A fully featured model will sell for well over $1,000. Apple sales have shown in the past that there is a model for iPhones this expensive.

Apple’s services business, which includes the highly visible Apple TV+, may still be the primary catalyst for Apple’s future. However, if iPhone sales reached 70 million for the holiday quarter, services may take a back seat for a while.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.