Thursday Apple Rumors: iPhone Launch Sales Predicted to Top Records

by Christopher Freeburn | September 19, 2013 12:01 pm

[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

Blowout: Despite reports of low inventories, sales of Apple‘s (AAPL[3]) new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c will easily eclipse last year’s launch sales of the iPhone 5[4], AppleInsider notes. That forecast comes from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who says that Apple will ship between 6 million and 8 million iPhones over the weekend. That compares to 5 million iPhone 5’s sold during the first three days of its launch last year. Kuo says that Apple will disclose the sales some time next week, releasing the sales figures in a single number that includes both the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c sales. Some analysts expressed concern over Apple’s decision not to release pre-order data for the iPhone 5c. The company did not accept pre-orders for the iPhone 5s, except in China. Kuo’s forecast is more optimistic than Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene Munster, who expects Apple to sell between 5 million and 6 million iPhones this weekend. Kuo expects sales of the iPhone 5c to outpace those of the more expensive iPhone 5s, with the flagship iPhone taking between 35% and 45% of total iPhone sales this weekend. Recent reports indicate that Apple has a severely limited supply of new iPhones available to meet customer demand this weekend.

No Junk: When Apple announced the pricing for the iPhone 5c last week, many analysts were disappointed that it was higher than they had expected. However, in an interview with Bloomberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook dismissed the idea that Apple would ever offer a truly cheap iPhone[5]. “We’re not in the junk business,” he told Bloomberg, noting that there is still ample opportunities for growth in the high-end smartphone market. Cook said that he doesn’t worry over the company’s share price and won’t “lose sleep” about cheaper smartphones. Cook said Apple will “compete like crazy” for premium handset customers, who exist in sufficient numbers that “Apple can have a really good business.”

Queuing Up: With the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c set to hit store shelves tomorrow, Apple fans are already assembling outside Apple Stores[6], the Daily Mail notes. Lines have already formed outside the company’s flagship stores on New York’s Fifth Avenue and London’s Regent Street. In New York, people spread out sleeping bags, lawn chairs and blankets as they battled the city’s early fall chill. The new iPhones go on sale on Apple’s website just after midnight, Pacific Time, on September 20, and at the brick-and-mortar stores at 8 a.m., local time. The iPhone 5s features a 64-bit processor and a fingerprint scanner and comes in a new “gold” color.  The plastic-backed iPhone 5c is available in pink, yellow, blue, green and white.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[7] stories.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/09/thursday-apple-rumors-iphones-launch-sales-predicted-to-top-records/

---