Units might have potentially hit 2.5 million

Apple could have sold far more iPhone 4s at launch if it had been able to keep up with production demands, argues Kaufman analyst Shaw Wu in a new memo. The company sold 1.7 million units between Thursday and Saturday, beating the pace of earlier iPhone launches, and typical analyst forecasts between 1 and 1.5 million units. Wu estimates however that if Apple had invested in better production levels, it could have sold anywhere between 2 and 2.5 million phones. Shortages continue to hamper sales, since the device is virtually unavailable in some areas.

Production is expected to be a continuing problem for the iPhone, although not enough to alter Wu's prediction of 9 million in sales for the June quarter, and 40 million for all of 2010. Another concern is the ongoing reception problems with the iPhone 4, which may make the device hard to use. Wu suggests that the trouble is not "that big of a deal," since Apple is believed to be working on a software fix, and most people allegedly use a case.

"As we said before, in the worst case, AAPL discounts the price of the $29 iPhone 4 bumper case or includes one for free with an iPhone 4 purchase," the analyst writes. "Either way, we do not think this would have a material impact on our forecasts."

by MacNN Staff