Apple will soon confirm record iPhone 6 sales

All the signs suggest Apple will confirm record iPhone 6 (and 6 Plus) sales when it announces its Q1 results next week – even while interest in its latest models remains incredibly strong.

iPhone crazy

451 Research today published its latest findings, which suggest more than half of Americans planning to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days will get an iPhone. Not only that, but people are around three times more likely to get an iPhone than a Samsung Galaxy device, the figures confirm.

A September survey (conducted just as the iPhone 6 series shipped) showed 71% of Americans planning to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days planned to get an Apple.

This follows an astonishingly strong Christmas quarter in which Apple accounted for 51 percent of new device activations worldwide in the week leading up to and including Christmas day, according to Flurry.

Samsung’s swan song?

Biggest single competitor, Samsung, took just 18%, which matches the 18% of 451’s respondents who said they were interested in purchasing Samsung smartphones in the next 90 days.

This 18% figure may constitute Samsung’s support level – support it desperately needs while it tries to replace Android with TizenBerry in an attempt to build its own unique identity and avoid collapse in the current market.

Kantar Worldpanel research earlier this month confirmed that iOS marketshare grew in the U.S., Germany, UK, China, France, Australia, Italy and Spain in the three months ending November 2014.

Globally, Counterpoint reports suggest Apple’s new phones continue to win hearts and minds worldwide, while the Asia-Pacific territories are also falling under its spell:

33% market share in South Korea.

51% share in Japan.

12% in China.

A new iRecord

All these data points are driving huge expectation as Apple prepares to divulge its  financial results next week. Like most analysts, Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty estimates Apple sold up to 69 million units in the quarter – that’s up from 51 million in the year-ago holiday quarter.

The key takeaway in all of this, though, isn’t just the strong quarter Apple is going to confirm it had, but the strong quarter it is about to have. You see, the latest 451 data shows that interest in the new smartphone remains strong.

In other words, Apple may have changed the nature of the cyclic purchasing pattern its mobile devices usually show.

“This is the highest level of Apple demand ever recorded in our smart phone survey three months after a major new release,” said Andy Golub of 451 Research.

Maintaining momentum

This means we can expect similar figures across Apple’s FY 2015 Q2, prompting RBC Capital analyst Amit Daryanani last week to estimate the company will sell up to 50 million more iPhones in the current quarter.

And, of course, the question on most open-minded industry watcher’s lips might be “And what about the iPhone 5S?”

Why wouldn’t the company ship an iPhone 6S model mid-year to maintain sales momentum. Why would it ignore the potential of exploiting the interest in its products it’s about to ignite with its new MacBook Air iPad range and this year’s hit product that will be the Apple Watch?

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