iPhone sales continue to surge into February - Bernstein
by Horace Dediu
Apple's iPhone continued strong sales in February
Apple’s iPhone continued strong sales last month, thanks to the popularity of the iPhone 17 line, Bernstein analysts wrote in an investor note on Monday.
According to the report, global iPhone sell-through increased 26% year over year in February. Overall, the analysts say iPhone 17 unit sales are up 20% versus last year’s iPhone 16 through September and January.
The base model iPhone 17 accounted for 39% of that growth, while the iPhone 17 Pro Max made up 21% of the increase.
Average selling price, or ASP, also climbed in February, growing 6.9% year over year. So far, ASP has improved each month since the iPhone 17 launched in September, with the exception of October, Bernstein said.
The analysts said China provided the biggest boost to ASP, with growth of 20.2% year over year.
Source: Yahoo Finance
NB: Guidance provided by management was at the end of January and thus February was well within sight.
It's unclear from this quote how Bernstein is measuring this degree of detail for global iPhone sales by model and price point. The article goes on to say "On the flip side, however, Bernstein said that January and February iPhone revenue is estimated to have been $35.7 billion, below the firm’s anticipated $56.5 billion."
This sounds like complete nonsense. How could revenues be down as unit sales are up, ASP is up? The quote refers to January and February but the anticipated revenue cited sounds like the full quarter. My own estimate for iPhone revenues for the quarter is $57.2 billion.
1 comment
Sacto Joe ·
I believe that many of these analysts are becoming more and more lost at sea vis-a-vis Apple. This of course has a bearing on the valuation, but also creates hysteresis as the actual facts come out contrary to expectations.
BB (Before Buybacks), this used to bother me. But AB, I just see it as a way for Apple to juice the worth of buybacks by being permitted to purchase shares at less than they're actually worth. The Bang per Buyback Buck is thus increased, and long term investors benefit as cash that is seen as valueless actually creates long term shareholder value.