According to reports, Apple is planning to sell a large number of iPhone during the second half of this year, having increased its order volumes for all the iPhone models and boosting the orders for iPhone 5 to as many as 26 million handsets. This was first reported by a technology blog, which said that the orders for the iPhone 4s and iPhone 3GS have been considerably increased by Apple for the last quarter of 2011. It has also been said that Apple has revised the order volumes for its upcoming iPhone 5 for the third and fourth quarters of this year, increasing the number of phones for Q3 from 5.5 million to 7 million, and for Q4 from 14 million to more than 20 million.
The site has cited anonymous sources from the supply chain for Apple’s device components which manufacture components for the iPhones in Asia. The sources expect that a total of more than 95 million iPhones will be shipped this year in total. If Apple manages to sell even 20 to 25 million units of the iPhone this year, it will improve on its record breaking Q2 in 2011, when the company earned revenue worth $28.57 billion.
The company’s change in the number of shipments from the third quarter to the fourth doesn’t do much to support the rumors that the company will launch the new iPhone in October instead of September. One of the analysts even predicts that this could help Apple double its current market share.
There have already been many reports suggesting that Apple expects to sell big on its new iPhone 5; however even those reports fell much short of what the company achieved in the second quarter this year. It is not even clear whether these orders from Apple include the other iPhone models, including a web iCloud based iPhone and another low-cost scaled down iPhone 4 which will target prepaid customers, which are expected to go on sale later this year.
From the two handsets, the low-end iPhone 4 seems the more likely to be on the cards. It has been rumored that the company will ensure that the device is considerably less expensive than the current iPhone 4 so that the customers can buy it without needing to go for a contract with wireless providers. It is supposed to have a plastic chassis, instead of the regular glass, along with other measures meant to cut costs.
August 19, 2011 at 7:47 am
I’m sincerely hoping this rumored cheaper iPhone will be coming to Tracfone’s Straight talk brand. Otherwise I simply won’t be able to afford it. And quite seriously, if you have an iPhone, you do want to be able to use it…a lot. ie you’ll need the unlimited plan – and that Straight talk’s $45 plan is the only affordable plan out there that also offers a large amount of coverage.