An analyst report predicts that Apple will sell 71.5 million iPhones in the fourth quarter due to the strong demand during the holiday shopping season.
However, the same report predicts that there will be a drop in demand for the first quarter of next year, with Apple expected to ship below 50 million iPhones for the quarter.
The report, obtained by Apple Insider, was written by KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
The 71.5 million units expected to be sold by Apple in the fourth quarter represents an 82 percent increase compared to the third quarter.
Expected to make up for more than half of Apple's iPhone sales for the fourth quarter is the newly released iPhone 6, at just below 60 percent of the total for 41.7 million units.
The iPhone 6 Plus, the bigger version of the iPhone 6, is expected to come in at second with 15.1 million units. Kuo expects 8.8 million units sold for the iPhone 5S, 4.3 million units sold for the iPhone 5C and 1.6 million units sold for the iPhone 4S.
The iPhone 6 Plus has more often been the topic of discussion compared to the iPhone 6, primarily due to the scarcity of the device in retail outlets. According to Kuo, this shortage in supply for the iPhone 6 Plus not only shows the high demand for the smartphone, but also confirms the production problems being experienced by suppliers. Kuo believes that the fourth quarter sales for Apple will largely depend on how the company will address its supply chain issues to be able to churn out more iPhone 6 Plus units in time for the holidays.
While Kuo reports high expectations for Apple's fourth quarter sales for the iPhone, he expects a major decline for the first quarter of next year mostly because of the poor demand during the season. Kuo expects iPhone shipments to total only 49.4 million units, 21.6 million units of which are iPhone 6 smartphones and 10.2 million are iPhone 6 Plus smartphones.
Kuo believes that all models of the iPhone will see lower sales for the first quarter of 2015 compared to the fourth quarter of 2014, except for the iPhone 5C and iPhone 4S, which Kuo expects to increase by 77.3 percent and 58.2 percent, respectively. Kuo believes that promotional offers will drive up demand for the iPhone 5C, while the iPhone 4S will continue to be marketed and sold in emerging markets.
However, Kuo added that despite his predictions of growth in sales for the iPhone 5C and iPhone 4S, he expects the company to deprecate both iPhone models for a more streamlined smartphone lineup.
Kuo is also expecting that Apple will move forward with releasing new 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch smartphone products next year with updated hardware. Coupled with the company's new iPads, Apple will then have its entire mobile offerings equipped with Touch ID, in a bid to boost its Apple Pay feature.
