Apple expected to rake in $38.69 billion

JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz has raised his estimates of iPhone shipments for the December quarter from 25.3 million units to 28 million. US carriers have reportedly been "surprised by the strong uptake" of the iPhone 4S, along with cheaper releases of the 4 and 3GS, which Moskowitz suggests will help Apple's penetration into poorer countries like China. Apple's best iPhone performance to date occurred during the June quarter, when it sold 20.34 million units worldwide.

Correspondingly, Moskowitz has raised revenue and EPS forecasts up to $38.69 billion and $9.87 from $37.26 billion and $9.45. Wall Street consensus is said to sit around $38.02 billion and $9.78. In terms of long-term iPhone shipments, Moskowitz now sees 105.5 million units for FY2012, and another 121.7 million for FY2013.

Returning to the December quarter, Mac shipments are expected to hold steady at 5.4 million. MacBook Air sales are predicted to stay strong, mostly unchallenged by notebooks based on Intel's Ultrabook standard. Apple is moreover anticipated to be unaffected by the hard drive shortages hurting the wider PC market.

The one negative point for Moskowitz is iPads, which he has adjusted downward from 13.3 million units to a flat 13. He blames "limited uplift in build activity," as as well as the Kindle Fire, which is said to be experiencing "better-than-expected momentum with more price sensitive consumers." The tablet is expected to make just a small dent on iPad sales, with people eventually coming away "disappointed."

by MacNN Staff