Apple Inc. announced on Monday that it had sold a higher than expected number of iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C in the first three days after its launch on Friday. As per the figures, a total of 9 million iPhones have been sold and that has prompted the company in issuing quite an optimistic financial forecast for the future. In early trading on Monday, the shares of the iPhone maker rose about 4.5% and reached $488.64. The sale of these two new models was double of that of the iPhone 5 in the first weekend after its launch in the past year. In its first three days on the market, the iPhone 5 had managed to sell about 5 million units.
Any analyst stated that the sales figure for the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C was indeed impressive and it looks like the company will be selling every 5S that they will manufacture. It had been expected by Wall Street analysts that the company would be selling approximately 6 million units of the two new iPhones. The financial forecast of the company was tweaked to reflect the high number of sales, which is quite an unusual move for the smartphone giant. The company’s previous forecast had included revenue of the fourth quarter of about $34 billion, but it was now adjusting it to $37 billion.
In addition, Apple had forecasted that the gross profit margin would be about 36%, but its estimates had been raised to 37%. Average revenue forecast by the analysts was about $36.10 billion. According to other analysts, the number of sales shows that Apple still bears a very strong connection with its customer base. The critics had assumed that Apple had lost its golden touch, but customers were clearly not singing the same song. The product has received the approval of customers and it’s not the numbers, but the sentiment that counts.
Initial supplies have been eroded by the demand of the iPhone 5S and a number of online orders will be shipped to customers in the next couple of weeks. It was the first time in the history of the company that two iPhones had been launched simultaneously and long lines had formed outside stores in San Francisco, Tokyo, New York and other cities as people were eager to get their hands on the top-of-the-line iPhone. As of Friday, the gold-colored version, which is also available in grey and silver, was sold out. The color will now only be available in October.
From Monday, the other two colors were also sold out and will only be available in October. Tim Cook, Chief Executive of Apple Inc. said that the demand for the new devices was incredible and although the initial supply of iPhones had run out, the stores would continue to receive their shipments of the device regularly. He stated that the patience of the customers was appreciated and the company would be working to provide them with their phones as soon as possible. Apple had also rolled out the iOS 7 just before the launch of the new devices.
