Apple Will Not Release First Weekend Sales Numbers for iPhone 7 Due to Demand Outweighing Supply

apple-iphone7Apple, in a statement provided to CNBC, has announced that it will not be releasing first weekend sales numbers for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, as it feels the results are "no longer a representative metric" due to demand outweighing supply.

“We expect iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will be incredibly popular with customers and we are thrilled to begin taking pre-orders on September 9. Customers will receive their new iPhones starting September 16.

In years past, we’ve announced how many new iPhones had been sold as of the first weekend following launch. But as we have expanded our distribution through carriers and resellers to hundreds of thousands of locations around the world, we are now at a point where we know before taking the first customer pre-order that we will sell out of iPhone 7.

These initial sales will be governed by supply, not demand, and we have decided that it is no longer a representative metric for our investors and customers. Therefore we won’t be releasing a first-weekend number any longer. We are reiterating the financial guidance for the September quarter that we provided on July 26.”

In a research note last week, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said mass production of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus did not begin until the second half of August, later than expected, as Apple's supply chain faced issues ramping up production due to challenging requirements for IPX7 water resistance.

The statement has ignited concern among some investors about potentially weaker iPhone sales numbers. Kuo himself revised his iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus shipments forecast to 20 to 25 million units in the quarter, compared to his original estimate of 30 million units. AAPL is currently down around 2% to $106.20 in intraday trading following the announcement.

Apple's first weekend sales had increased sequentially for each iPhone launch between the iPhone 4s in 2011 and iPhone 6s in 2015:

iPhone 6s and 6s Plus Sales Top Thirteen Million in Launch Weekend
iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Sales Top Ten Million in Launch Weekend
iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c Sales Top Nine Million in Launch Weekend
iPhone 5 Sales Top Five Million in Launch Weekend
iPhone 4S Sales Top 4 Million as 25 Million Users Move to iOS 5

Apple reiterated its financial guidance of between $45.5 billion and $47.5 billion in revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter.

Tag: AAPL
Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
bsod

Crowdstrike Says Global IT Outage Impacting Windows PCs, But Mac and Linux Hosts Not Affected

Friday July 19, 2024 3:12 am PDT by
A widespread system failure is currently affecting numerous Windows devices globally, causing critical boot failures across various industries, including banks, rail networks, airlines, retailers, broadcasters, healthcare, and many more sectors. The issue, manifesting as a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), is preventing computers from starting up properly and forcing them into continuous recovery...
iphone 14 lineup

Cellebrite Unable to Unlock iPhones on iOS 17.4 or Later, Leak Reveals

Thursday July 18, 2024 4:18 am PDT by
Israel-based mobile forensics company Cellebrite is unable to unlock iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later, according to leaked documents verified by 404 Media. The documents provide a rare glimpse into the capabilities of the company's mobile forensics tools and highlight the ongoing security improvements in Apple's latest devices. The leaked "Cellebrite iOS Support Matrix" obtained by 404 Media...
Apple Watch Series 9

2024 Apple Watch Lineup: Key Changes We're Expecting

Tuesday July 16, 2024 7:59 am PDT by
Apple is seemingly planning a rework of the Apple Watch lineup for 2024, according to a range of reports from over the past year. Here's everything we know so far. Apple is expected to continue to offer three different Apple Watch models in five casing sizes, but the various display sizes will allegedly grow by up to 12% and the casings will get taller. Based on all of the latest rumors,...
tinypod apple watch

TinyPod Turns Your Apple Watch Into an iPod

Wednesday July 17, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
If you have an old Apple Watch and you're not sure what to do with it, a new product called TinyPod might be the answer. Priced at $79, the TinyPod is a silicone case with a built-in scroll wheel that houses the Apple Watch chassis. When an Apple Watch is placed inside the TinyPod, the click wheel on the case is able to be used to scroll through the Apple Watch interface. The feature works...

Top Rated Comments

samac92 Avatar
103 months ago
They don't want "iPhone 7 less popular than iPhone 6s" headlines to spoil the launch weekend.
Score: 50 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BMcCoy Avatar
103 months ago
= we know it's going to be a flop.
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
spiderman0616 Avatar
103 months ago
Apple: Launch weekend numbers are not useful anymore, always get spun as negative, and are always limited by supply no matter what that supply number is. Therefore we're just not going to bother reporting it anymore.

MacRumors forum trolls: This phone is a flop.

God I hate this site sometimes.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mac Rules Avatar
103 months ago
So that's a flop then.

The non-existant Apple Watch numbers have always inspired such confidence.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
103 months ago
They don't want "iPhone 7 less popular than iPhone 6s" headlines to spoil the launch weekend.
Exactly. Smart. I'm glad they've stopped releasing sales figures outside of earnings calls. No one else does it. All it does is create a big fat unnecessary target that they're probably not going to surpass anymore now that the market is more mature/saturated.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
scottish Avatar
103 months ago
Supply more then.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)