iPhone 5 Release Date: Apple to Sell 107M Handsets by 2012?
Analysts are projecting that the iPhone 5 will not only beat out the initial three-day sales records of its predecessor, but that Apple will sell over 100 million handsets by the end of 2012.
Commentators have noted that the iPhone 5 has had an "unprecedented demand" ever since news of its upcoming release first broke.
Countless rumors and projections about the smartphone have circled ever since.
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Janney Capital Markets analyst Bill Choi has suggested that Apple will ship 84 million iPhones in 2011 and 27 percent more in 2012, which will equate to approximately 107 million handsets sold between now and the end of 2012.
“We believe Apple is well positioned to capture an enormous profit pool as mobility and content worlds converge,” Choi said in a statement to clients.
Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White noted that the iPhone 4 sold a whopping 1.7 million handsets in just three days after its June 24, 2010 release and expects the iPhone 5 to easily break that record.
With new carriers worldwide constantly adding the iPhone to their inventories, the potential for the iPhone 5 to sell an astronomical amount of handsets in 2011 and 2012 is steadily increasing.
Currently, 228 carriers worldwide power the iPhone 4 and 74 of those carriers were added in the last year.
Choi notes that other potential carriers such as Sprint, T-Mobile and China Mobile could collectively bring up to 713.7 million new users to the iPhone 5.
White expects that iPhone 5 will also be released in generous supply to allow for optimal sales.
The iPhone 5 is expected to be unveiled today at Apple's "Let's Talk iPhone" media event, in conjunction with the company's latest operating system, iOS 5.
Commentators have projected that the iPhone 5 will release on October 14.
