According to analysts from South Korea, Apple's sales for the iPhone 7 could hit as high as 100 million units by the end of this year due to its initial sales going better than expected.
Lee Seung-woo, an analyst for IBK investment & Securities, said that iPhone 7 component suppliers from the Asian country now expected the volume of over 100 million before the end of 2016. This is a 17 to 25 percent increase from the initial expectation of 80 million to 85 million iPhone 7 units.
In a note to the firm's clients, Lee added that more customers may have shifted into purchasing the iPhone 7 due to the worldwide recall that was launched by Samsung for the Galaxy Note 7 due to exploding batteries.
"It is indisputable that the Galaxy Note 7 incident has become a huge plus for Apple," Lee wrote.
Kiwoom Securities analyst Kim Ji-san, meanwhile, predicted that the iPhone 7 will reach higher sales figures compared to the iPhone 6s, with the massive popularity in online orders in the United States and China. Initial stocks for the smartphone have already sold out in several regions, including the United States, China and the United Kingdom.
According to Kim, the main driver of the great performance of the iPhone 7 in the market, in addition to the Galaxy Note 7 recall, is the end of the two-year contract for iPhone 6 owners, as the smartphone was released exactly two years ago.
Song Eun-jeong, an analyst for Hi Investment & Securities, predicted that due to the strong sales of the iPhone 7, Apple will be able to recover its position on top of the premium smartphone market, which consists of devices with price tags of over $600. Song added that with the Galaxy Note 7 recall, carriers in the United States have focused their promotions on the iPhone 7, which is another factor in the increasing sales of the device.
The analysts claim that the South Korean vendors that will benefit from the strong performance of the iPhone 7 are LG Display, the supplier of display panels, and LG InnoTek, the supplier of the dual camera module of the iPhone 7 Plus.
The shift of customers away from the Galaxy Note 7 and into the iPhone 7, as noted by the analysts, mirrors the results of surveys taken by CNET. The surveys revealed that nearly half of Galaxy Note 7 customers, at 48.5 percent, will be switching to the iPhone 7, compared to the 30.5 percent of customers who will be taking up Samsung's exchange offer.
