Surprising iPhone Growth
During its last earnings call, Apple’s executives candidly admitted that they expected to see iPhone sales slow down as a result of the health crisis, not to mention the normal slump in sales that happens every Q3 anyway as many customers hold off in anticipation of new fall releases.
However, the numbers surprised everybody, including Tim Cook himself, when Apple discovered that the iPhone actually still saw two percent growth over the same quarter last year — $26.4 billion versus $26 billion in Q3 2019 — with demand for the iPhone increasing in May and June. Cook attributed this to the “very successful” launch of the much more affordable iPhone SE, along with the economic stimulus packages that were available to many in the U.S.
In fact, according to a new report by market research firm Canalys, the iPhone was the only major smartphone vendor to see any growth this quarter. While Apple doesn’t release specific unit sales, Canalys estimates that the revenue actually translates to around 45.1 million iPhone units sold globally, making for a 25% year-over-year increase — a much higher jump than the mere $400 million revenue growth would seem to indicate, although of course this also points to most of the sales being focused on the iPhone SE.
Despite this, however, at only 44% of Apple’s overall revenue for the quarter, the iPhone still represented a smaller piece of the pie than it has in the past. Part of this is again due to the impending release of the iPhone 12 lineup, but it’s also clear that the iPhone is continuing to become more eclipsed by Apple’s strong performance in other areas like services, along with improved Mac and iPad sales as many people continue to work from home.