While iPhone sales may have slowed in recent months, leading many industry analysts to predict continued sales woes for Apple’s handset, at least one well-known analyst sees improved fortunes for sales of the device.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the “worst is soon over,” and predicts iPhone shipments beyond March showing improved numbers, higher than the current market consensus.
Kuo says that the market is expecting 2019 iPhone shipments of around 180 million units at the high end. However, he is sticking to his December estimates and maintains the 188-192 million forecast.
Apple is set to announce its first fiscal quarter of 2019 results on Tuesday’s earnings call. Apple CEO Tim Cook has announced the company expects to officially announce $84 billion in revenue, missing their original $89 to $93 billion guidance. Kuo says iPhone sales for the quarter will fall into the 36 to 38 million unit range, as he sees recent trade-in promotions boosting sales in non-Chinese markets.
Kuo expects to see fiscal Q2 iPhone sales to be flat quarter-over-quarter, in the 3 to 37 million range. That’s a 15% decline compared to 2018 year-over-year sales.
Kuo also expects the second half of the year to rebound a bit, coming in at mostly flat when compared to 2018’s sales figures, thanks to the launch of the 2019 model iPhones in the fall. He sees strong replacement demand, strong sales due to trade-in programs, and market share gains in the European countries.
