Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stands poised to rake in the sales on Black Friday and throughout the holiday shopping season. In fact, some analysts think Apple will do so well with iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sales on and after Black Friday that the company will take a bite out of retailers’ profits.
Just how well will Apple do?
In their report dated Nov. 24, 2014, Cantor Fitzgerald analysts Brian White and Isabel Zhu address current trends in tech spending and how they will affect Apple during this year’s holiday shopping season. Of course the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are the headlining acts, but they note that the new iPhones aren’t the only new products this year.
The Cantor Fitzgerald team point out that Apple has had some major product refreshes in the last three months. They also think the company’s competitors have failed to innovate well enough to keep up. Additionally, they say Apple should benefit from a “constructive spending backdrop,” which includes lower gas prices and unemployment numbers and improving consumer confidence.
iPhone 6, 6 Plus to lead the way
The analysts expect the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to be the most popular iPhone ever because of the larger screen sizes, the new form factors, better screen resolution on the iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Pay.
They say the new iPads can’t be ignored either, however. They think the thinner iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 2 will be this year’s top tablet gifts. The Cantor Fitzgerald team notes that this is the first holiday season in which consumers can buy a gold-colored iPad. They expect the “extra touch of ‘bling’ to prove popular across the malls of America.”
When it comes to Macs, they don’t expect huge sales for the ultra-expensive 27-inch Mac with Retina 5K display because of the hefty price tag at $2,499. However, they say the rest of the Mac lineup will “be fair game,” particularly the MacBook Air.
The analysts note that in previous years, Apple has held one-day Black Friday sales online, slashing prices across its product portfolio. Last year though, the discounts came in the form of Apple Store gift cards rather than cash discounts. The value of the offered gift cards averaged about 15% off, compared to the previous year’s cash discount of about 9% to 10%.
Tablets first, then computers
In general, the Cantor Fitzgerald team thinks tablets are at the top of most consumers’ wish lists this year and that notebooks are in second place. They say while attending CES Unveiled and the Consumers Electronics Association, they discussed estimates for general electronics demand.
They estimate that 13% of consumers want a tablet computer, while 11% want notebooks, 8% want TVs and 7% want smartphones. They estimate that about 7% of consumers want video game consoles.
