Apple will sell its one billionth iPhone this summer and is likely to sell its 2 billionth by 2020, claims a new report.
Provided these numbers are accurate (and the first is almost certainly correct), it’s a timely reminder that — even during a period when the term “peak iPhone” is being thrown around — Apple’s astonishingly successful when it comes to selling its handsets.
Apple sold 896 million iPhones between 29 June, 2007 and the end of 2015. Half of all iPhone sales, moreover, have taken place in the past two years. According to Wall Street predictions, Apple is expected to report sales of 50 million iPhones during the first three months of 2016, which brings the total up to 946 million.
From there, it’s just a few months until Apple passes the “billion-selling” mark with the iPhone. Wall Street’s current estimates for the big day? July 20.
If you’re looking for even more impressive stats, Apple has sold more iPhones than it has sold Macs, iPads and iPods combined, dating back more than two decades to 1993.
If the iPhone business was spun off as its own business, meanwhile, the $155 million revenue it brought in last year would place it fifth on the list of Fortune 500 companies.
Apple’s no stranger to numbers in the billions. Back in November 2014, it sold its 1 billionth iOS device, including iPhones, iPads and the iPod touch. The App Store, meanwhile, saw its 50 billionth download back in 2013, while the 10 billionth iTunes song was downloaded in 2010.
Still, selling 1 billion of one particular product line (and particularly one many thought would never amount to a thing when it launched) is an extra special milestone to hit.
Source: CNN Money
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
3 responses to “Apple will sell its 1 billionth iPhone this summer”
50 billion not 50 million.
The cry of “peak iPhone” will continue to go on as the analysts know Apple is pushing against the limits of selling ever more iPhones. It’s odd you don’t hear things like “peak GM” or “peak BMW” as all manufacturers run up against the maximum number of products they can sell. It’s really time for Apple to find other ways to gain revenue to take away some of the burden of having to always sell more iPhones to satisfy Wall Street’s never-ending greed. It seems like it would be a natural thing for a company to hit its sales limits, so I don’t know why they make such a big deal about Apple hitting theirs. Hitting sales limits doesn’t mean a company is dying like they want to keep saying about Apple. That’s just so stupid. Also, Apple shouldn’t pursue selling ever cheaper products to gain more sales. That’s self-defeating strategy and it would only temporarily sate Wall Street’s endless greed. No company grows forever especially if a certain percentage of profits is also required.
Fact Checker: “If the iPhone business was spun off as its own business, meanwhile, the [155 million dollars in revenue Apple] brought in last year would place it fifth on the list of Fortune 500 companies.”
WRONG! iPhone revenue is in the billions, not millions. You are only off by three orders of magnitude.