Apple is gearing up for the production of 200 million to 250 million units of iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch after the company asked suppliers to prepare chips for the devices, sources say.
Deducting the 30 million to 40 million chips for the upcoming Apple Watch, the shipments will be just enough to produce over 200 million units of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Sources also noted that Apple will likely be reaching the goal of selling the 200 million units earlier than the company expects.
The momentum of orders for the chips used in the production of the iPhone 6 devices will continue into the first quarter of 2015, just as strong as it currently is in the fourth quarter of 2014, sources add, indicating that the market demand for the iPhone 6 devices continue to be strong.
Apple has recently gone through the #bendgate problem, which refers to reports that there are some faulty iPhone 6 Plus units that bend if kept inside pockets while the user sits down for a lengthy period of time. While the faulty units may be replaced by the Apple Store, the bent iPhone 6 Plus has become the subject of much controversy and parody, including those by other smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung, which released its own bend test for the Galaxy Note 4.
The latest controversy to hit the iPhone 6 is the #hairgate problem; users have reported that their hair or beard get caught in the seam where the glass meets the aluminum, resulting in hair being pulled out.
However, despite the controversies, Apple's sales for its iPhone 6 devices are not faltering. Early sales for the smartphone reached 21 million in its first two weeks, despite not yet launching in China. Reports also mention that sales for the iPhone 6 could approach and even surpass 20 million units during the first 30 days of the device being sold in the market.
Keith Bachman, an analyst for BMO Capital Markets, predicted a week after the launch of the iPhone 6 line that Apple would sell 189 million units in the company's fiscal year 2015, 74 percent of which are expected to be iPhone 6 devices.
Bachman acknowledged that the launch of the smartphone in China is of great importance to Apple's performance in the current fiscal year, as sales could reach 10 million units for the current quarter. Reservations in the country for the iPhone 6 have reached 4 million units.
