The growing importance of international iPhone sales, along with demand for Apple’s latest smartphone, should remove any Wall Street doubt that the fourth quarter was only a fluke. One analyst Monday announced bullish expectations for the first quarter of 2012, forecasting 42 million iPhones will have sold in December – more than double that of last quarter.
Investors, disappointed that fourth quarter iPhone sales of 17 million units were below expectations, will likely cheer UBS analyst Maynard Um’s projection, which he terms “conservative.” By comparison, Wall Street consensus forecasts Apple will ship between 25 million and 30 million units during the December period. Um credits the launch of 70 new international markets for the iPhone amid Apple’s current distribution giving international sales 72.5 percent of sales versus 27.5 percent for the United States.
“A similar 27.5 percent U.S./72.5 percent international split from this quarter would imply 42.5 million units in the [calendar year fourth quarter] or an upside of 14.5 million iPhones,” Um told investors.
Apple’s first fiscal quarter of 2012 will likely also be boosted by iPhone 4 sales, which registered just one week of sales before the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011. Given that Apple sold more than 4 million iPhone 4S units in the first weekend, Apple CEO Tim Cook’s statement he is “very confident” of a record-setting December quarter seems all the more probable.
