With the anniversary of the original iPhone launch just days away, the research firm Strategy Analytics put out an interesting press release claiming that Apple, to date, has sold over 250 million iPhones resulting in over $150 billion in revenue over the past 5 years.
With the anniversary of the original iPhone launch just days away, the research firm Strategy Analytics put out an interesting press release claiming that Apple, to date, has sold over 250 million iPhones resulting in over $150 billion in revenue over the past 5 years.
Apple’s first iPhone was launched commercially in the United States on June 29, 2007. Between June 2007 and June 2012, we estimate the iPhone family of models has generated US$150 billion of cumulative revenues worldwide for Apple. This is an impressive achievement and it illustrates just how popular the iPhone has become during the past five years.”
Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “The iPhone portfolio has become a huge generator of cash and profit for Apple. A quarter of a billion iPhones have been shipped cumulatively worldwide in the first five years since launch and Apple reaches its fifth birthday at the top of its game. However, there are emerging signs that the iPhone’s next five years could get tougher. Some mobile operators are becoming concerned about the high level of subsidies they spend on the iPhone, while Samsung is expanding its popular Galaxy portfolio and providing Apple with more credible competition.”
Again with the absurd notion that mobile operators are concerned with high iPhone subsidies! This has become one of the most baseless theories ever proffered by an uninformed analyst.
But let’s not take away from the iPhone’s 5th birthday party, shall we?
What’s even more impressive about the iPhone’s growth and money making ability is that growth isn’t just increasing, but is accelerating. The bulk of Apple’s iPhone sales have occurred during the past 2 years, with 100 million alone occurring in 2011. Of course, a lot of this growth can be attributed to Apple launching the iPhone on many more carriers, seeing as it debuted exclusively on AT&T back in 2007.
Contextualizing the iPhone’s remarkable success and profitibility can be daunting, but Henry Blodget over at Business Insider does a decent job with this gem:
The iPhone business is now bigger than Microsoft. Yes, you read that right–“bigger than Microsoft.” A single product that didn’t exist five years ago is now bigger than the 30-year old company that was once considered so all-powerful that the government intervened to try to break it up.
Wow.
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