Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPhone 5S and 5C are now officially out, and the next best attraction to look forward to will be the sales data of the devices. However, until now Apple have not come up with any data for pre-orders. Citi analyst Glen Yeung expects some data coming next Monday when first week sales will be reported. The analyst, however, feels that sales figure will be nothing but outstanding due to lack of innovation and a high price tag.
Additionally, market saturation of smartphones in developed markets will cast their shadow over the sales, which in turn will upset the margins.
Estimates of pre-orders, first week sales
Citi Analysts expect iPhone 5S and 5C sales for the upcoming first retail weekend (9/20/13) to be 7.75 million, compared to over 7 million for the iPhone 5 (5 million plus 2 million from China). This time NTT DoCoMo will be included as a new carrier.
For iPhone 5C, analysts estimate pre-order units of 2.2 million, which includes numbers from China & Hong Kong. THe iPhone 5 was also over 2 million. This is the first time when China & Hong Kong, and Japan’s NTT Docomo are included in the phase of roll out.
Apple quiet on pre-orders
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), for the first time since the launch of iPhone 3GS in 2009, has not released the number of units sold in the first 24 hours. Historically, Apple followed the trend of releasing the first 24 hours sales figure in a morning press release on Monday following the Friday start of sales. This is an unusual action from the company, whose pre-orders have doubled each consecutive year.
There could be a potential reason for this as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is selling two iPhones this time, contrary to the trend of sticking with just one iPhone. Apple has started pre-orders only for iPhone 5C, while iPhone 5S will be start to sell at 12:01 a.m. PT on Friday, September 20th.
Weak sales possible
There are strong possibilities that iPhone sales could become bleak when compared to the previous year’s sales figures. According to an analyst, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may record 1 million iPhone 5C pre-orders on the first day, which is almost half of the 2 million pre-orders of iPhone 5 for the first day.
One can get a deeper insight into sales of the latest iPhones regardless of official numbers by looking into the availability of the device. Last year iPhone 5 was sold out online within an hour, which is not the case for iPhone 5C as one can still order the device.
