The fourth quarter of 2020 saw Apple ship a record number of iPhones and it seems the company may also be on track to ship a record number of devices in 2021, despite the ongoing chip shortages.
Apple may ship up to 250 million iPhones in 2021
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives (via MacRumors) is reporting that Apple could ship over 240 million iPhone units in the 2021 fiscal year, which runs through September. The brand might even reach the 250 million milestone if things go smoothly.Those numbers would represent an all-time record, surpassing the 231 million iPhone units sold during the 2015 fiscal year when Apple was riding high on the success of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
The reason for Apple’s success this year, aside from the implementation of 5G, is that so many iPhone users are in the upgrade window. According to Ives, an estimated 350 million iPhone users could soon upgrade, translating into an ‘unprecedented supercycle.’
Whether or not that upgrade supercycle ends up becoming a reality will remain to be seen. It’s worth nothing that Wall Street analysts predict Apple will sell roughly 220 million iPhones in the current fiscal year.
That’s still a seriously impressive number considering both the relatively low number of iPhone models available on the market and the fact that most Apple iPhones are premium-priced devices. But it’s far from the latest Wedbush forecast and wouldn’t be enough to surpass the 2015 record.
Apple’s success could continue in 2022 with iPhone 13
The good long-term news for Apple is that demand is unlikely to slow as it enters the iPhone 13 generation in the next fiscal year. The next-gen models are expected to offer a similar design, but with a slightly smaller notch and a faster A15 Bionic chipset, and they should be some of the best phones of 2021.
Buyers of the Pro-branded models could receive access to an in-display Touch ID scanner too, in addition to upgraded cameras and a 120Hz ProMotion display, something reserved for Apple’s iPad Pro series at the moment.
