Apple faithful get new iPhones as CEO faces growth questions
SAN FRANCISCO — How many iPhones can Apple Inc. sell?
That’s a question facing chief executive Tim Cook as the latest batch of handsets began landing in stores worldwide on Friday. The company has hit sales records with each annual release. Yet the newest models, following a hugely popular design overhaul last year, may not match the success of previous releases, analysts say.
From Sydney to New York, some of the Apple faithful waited in lines for more than two weeks to be among the first to receive the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
Before the new iPhones went on sale, demand appeared lower than last year, “possibly meaningfully so,” said Andy Hargreaves, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities who studied Google search data, shipment times and third-party surveys. Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. and RBC Capital Markets also raised concerns about iPhone growth. Since 2013, iPhone sales have increased an average of about 35 per cent each quarter. In October to December last year, Apple sold 74.6 million iPhones — about 34,000 iPhone purchases per hour.
Expectations are tempered partly because the gadget is at the point in its two-year design cycle that entails less dramatic changes. In the first year, Apple generally overhauls the device’s hardware, including its look and feel. For the following year’s model, designated with an “s” tacked on to the number, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company makes more subtle improvements.
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus resemble last year’s versions but sport new features such as 3D Touch, which provides a shortcut for checking mail, taking pictures and other functions when the user presses down on the screen.
Apple also added an improved camera and zippier processor.
Whether Apple can match last year’s demand will be determined as handsets hit stores Friday in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, France, Germany, the U.K., Canada, the U.S. and Puerto Rico. They will go on sale in more than 130 countries by year end, according to Apple.
At New York’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue, Jaime Gonzalez took two weeks off from work to wait in line for 16 days.
“I never had an iPhone before,” said the 38- year- old truck driver. “I see all my friends playing with their iPhones and new devices, and I said, ‘You know what, maybe it’s time for me to upgrade.’ ”
Customers around Asia again lined up to be among the first to get their hands on the device.
Cook has said he expects the world’s second-largest economy to eventually become Apple’s largest market. Greater China accounted for 27 per cent of revenue in the June quarter, more than all of Europe, and remains a swing factor for the company’s iPhone-reliant earnings.
Apple last week predicted it would top last year’s openingweekend sales record of 10 million units, although that figure is boosted by availability this year in China, which wasn’t part of the initial rollout last year.