Apple is announcing its quarterly earnings on July 19 and analysts areprepping their sales estimates for the big day. Philip Elmer-Dewitt of Apple 2.0 compiled a handful of these projections which range from a high of 20.25 million from Nicolae Mihalache of Traderhood down to a low of 15 million from Charlie Wolf of Needham.
The average estimate falls at 16.9 million units which is a 101% year-over-year increase and a slight drop from the 18.6 million sold last quarter. In four years of iPhone sales, DeWitt estimates Apple has sold over 125 million handsets.
So when Apple reports its 3rd quarter earnings next week, everybody who follows the company — from its most steadfast investors to its fiercest competitors — will be paying particular attention to how many iPhones it sold.
[UPDATE: Three more analysts have come in with iPhone numbers since this was posted: Wedbush's Scott Sutherland (18.65 million), UBS's Maynard Um (18.35) and CitiGroup's Richard Gardner (18 million). That brings the Wall Street consensus up to 16.6 million and puts the overall average above the 17 million mark.]
Sources:
www.tuaw.com.
tech.fortune.cnn.com.