Strategy Analytics: Apple Shipped an Estimated 65.9 Million iPhones in Holiday Quarter

Apple shipped an estimated 65.9 million iPhones during the first fiscal quarter of 2019 (aka the fourth calendar quarter of 2018) according to new data shared today by Strategy Analytics.

As of this quarter, Apple is no longer providing a breakdown of unit sales of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, so we will not have concrete data on how well the ‌iPhone‌ is selling going forward.

iphonexsxsmax
Apple in Q1 2018 sold 77.3 million iPhones, which would mean Apple sold 11.4 million fewer iPhones in Q1 2019 if Strategy Analytics' estimates are correct, marking a 15 percent decline in sales year-over-year.

Global iPhone shipments fell sharply, due to high retail pricing, unfavorable foreign exchange rates, intense competition from rivals like Huawei, battery replacement programs driving longer ownership cycles, diminished carrier subsidies in some developed markets, and flagging demand in some emerging markets.

Apple's Q1 2019 ‌iPhone‌ revenue was $52 billion, down from $61 billion in the year-ago quarter, also a 15 percent decline. The drop in ‌iPhone‌ revenue led to total revenue of $84.31 billion, down from $88.3 billion in Q1 2018.

Despite the decline in ‌iPhone‌ sales, which Apple CEO Tim Cook has attributed to weakness in China and fewer upgrades, Q1 2019 was Apple's second-best in terms of both revenue and profit, coming in behind only the first fiscal quarter of 2018.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Coming Soon With These New Features for Your iPhone

Tuesday March 25, 2025 6:45 am PDT by
Apple is expected to release iOS 18.4 to the general public as soon as next week, following more than a month of beta testing. Apple's website says some iOS 18.4 features will be released in "early April," so the update should be out as early as Tuesday, April 1. Apple this week seeded the iOS 18.4 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, barring the discovery of any...
ios 19 messages app

Here's What Apple's iOS 19 Messages App Might Look Like

Tuesday March 25, 2025 11:52 am PDT by
Leaker Jon Prosser today shared a mockup of what he says the Messages app will look like in iOS 19, demoing an interface with rounded, translucent bubble-shaped navigation buttons at the top and softer, rounder corners for the keyboard and word suggestions. Jon Prosser's Messages app mockup The return button, a button for going back to the Messages list, and the FaceTime button have a deeper...
iCloud General Feature Redux

iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Receive a New Perk

Thursday March 20, 2025 12:01 am PDT by
If you pay for iCloud storage on your iPhone, Apple has a new perk for you, at no additional cost. The new perk is the ability to create invitations in the Apple Invites app for the iPhone, which launched in the App Store last month. In the Apple Invites app, iCloud+ subscribers can create invitations for any occasion, such as birthday parties, graduations, baby showers, and more. Anyone ...
airpods max 2024 colors

Don't Buy Into Apple's Hype About AirPods Max Gaining Lossless Audio

Monday March 24, 2025 4:24 pm PDT by
Apple today announced that AirPods Max with a USB-C port will be gaining support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio with a firmware update next month, alongside the release of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4. For context, audio files are typically compressed to keep file sizes smaller. There are lossy compression standards like MP3 and AAC (Advanced Audio Codec), which...
Apple Lumon Terminal Pro

Apple's Mac Site Features Fictional 'Lumon Terminal Pro'

Wednesday March 26, 2025 12:19 pm PDT by
Apple is going all out with promotions for the popular Severance Apple TV+ show today, and as of right now, you'll find a new "Lumon Terminal Pro" listed on Apple's Mac site. The Lumon Terminal Pro is designed to look similar to the machines that Severance employees like Mark S. and Helly R. use for macrodata refinement. The Terminal features a blue keyboard, a small display with wide...
macbook pro blue green

When Will Apple Release the M5 MacBook Pro?

Wednesday March 26, 2025 4:53 pm PDT by
Apple regularly refreshes the MacBook Pro models, and a new version that uses M5 series chips is in the works. Apple just finished refreshing most of the Mac lineup with M4 chips, and now it's time for the M5. Rumors suggest that we could see the first M5 MacBook Pro models this fall. Design There have been no rumors of a design update for the M5 MacBook Pro models that are coming this...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock

Gurman: Jon Prosser's iOS 19 Mockups 'Aren't Representative' of Redesign

Tuesday March 25, 2025 4:47 pm PDT by
The iOS 19 mockup images that leaker Jon Prosser shared today are not representative of the actual iOS 19 design, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on social media. According to Gurman, the images that are "floating around" are based on "very old builds" or "vague descriptions," and are lacking key features. Gurman says that we can "expect more from Apple in June." Gurman made the same comment ...

Top Rated Comments

Bawstun Avatar
80 months ago
65.9 million phones sold in the holiday quarter. How will they ever recover?
15% down, and it’s the tip of the iceberg. BlackBerry RIM didn’t collapse their sales in a year. Nokia didn’t disappear overnight. Motorola didn’t vanish in a quarter or two.

15% decline is nothing to laugh at or ignore. The massive PR failures under Cook is nothing to laugh at.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MhaelK Avatar
80 months ago
The more reason it is an embarrassing shameful fact that Apple is upping their prices and neglecting the Mac. 20 billions of profit in one quarter and Timmy telling you that he doesn’t care about numbers and that the customer comes first :rolleyes:

I want to believe :(
Of course Tim says the customer comes first, just like the cow comes first for every dairy farmer on the planet. Because Apple is milking their loyal customer base for everything they got. Next year the prices will be even higher to offset the even lower numbers sold.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Baymowe335 Avatar
80 months ago
15% down, and it’s the tip of the iceberg. BlackBerry RIM didn’t collapse their sales in a year. Nokia didn’t disappear overnight. Motorola didn’t vanish in a quarter or two.

15% decline is nothing to laugh at or ignore. The massive PR failures under Cook is nothing to laugh at.
Apple is moving to a services company. Sure, iPhone revenue was down, but what about the 19% growth in non iPhone? iPad, Mac, Services, and wearables were up HUGE. So much that Apple reported $20B in net income, the same as last year. That means despite China absolutely falling off a cliff and a large decline in iPhone revenue, Apple was able to be JUST as profitable because of their strength in other businesses.

That’s because Apple is becoming less reliant on iPhone sales.

The installed base went from 1.3 to 1.4B over that time, including 900M iPhones. This shows people aren’t leaving. They just aren’t upgrading as fast.

The problem RIMM and Nokia had was the iPhone. There is nothing that has changed the industry, so it’s not comparable. People are keeping their phones longer, not moving away from iPhone. Those companies didn’t have the ecosystem or $100B in non iPhone revenue like Apple does.

Are you predicting Apple will lose 90% of its value like Nokia and RIMM? What is the time frame? Shouldn’t you be shorting the stock? Be specific. Don’t just throw stuff out.
[doublepost=1548817392][/doublepost]
You must have selective memory because RIM dropped over 20% YOY from their peak, and it accelerated after that. Moreover, RIM’s decline was during an economic expansion. And even in its heyday, RIM never achieved the profitability of Apple.
And it dropped so much because the industry was being disrupted by the iPhone.

What is disrupting the industry now? Pretty much market saturation, not a product Apple is missing the boat on and playing catch-up.

This is what these arm chair analysts miss in their false narratives. There is some weakness in China and iPhone in a quarter and all the sudden Apple is doomed. “Tip of the iceberg” talk and ignoring everything positive. It's comical.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2GoldFish Avatar
80 months ago
Let me think. What would an Apple loyalist say to this?
[LIST=1]
* Decline in unit sale is irrelevant. (Despite iPhone sales account for majority of revenue)
* Apple is a 'service company' now. (Despite growth in service revenue is less than decline in iPhone sale)
* This report is fake. No one knows the answer, because Apple no longer publish unit sale.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
80 months ago
15% down, and it’s the tip of the iceberg. BlackBerry RIM didn’t collapse their sales in a year. Nokia didn’t disappear overnight. Motorola didn’t vanish in a quarter or two.

15% decline is nothing to laugh at or ignore. The massive PR failures under Cook is nothing to laugh at.
The $84B Apple delivered is nothing to laugh at either. Citing BB and Nokia, two organizations that unlike Apple, didn’t change with the times is a false equivalency.

Massive PR failures are not showing in the numbers, unless one considers $84B a dismal financial failure.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sblemmy Avatar
80 months ago
15% down, and it’s the tip of the iceberg. BlackBerry RIM didn’t collapse their sales in a year. Nokia didn’t disappear overnight. Motorola didn’t vanish in a quarter or two.

15% decline is nothing to laugh at or ignore. The massive PR failures under Cook is nothing to laugh at.
The problem with both BB/RIM and Nokia is that both companies were unable or unwilling to respond to significant changes in the market. Both double downed on their existing platforms and bled market share until it was too late to change course.

Apple under Tim Cook, probably more-so than under Steve Jobs, is willing to experiment with different product options to change course. I think how Cook has handled the iPad line is a good example of this. A few years ago, critics claimed the iPad was doomed due declining sales and saturation of the tablet market. However, Cook’s managed to deliver products with high ASPs to stabilize revenue, while they market the cheaper option to go after mass market.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)