Apple Optimism Grows With Share Price

Apple shares have reportedly risen to 2.5% below an all-time closing high in the US following strong demand for the newly released iPhone 11 despite a decrease in worldwide device sales.

Optimism in the tech company grew alongside the 1.9% share price (now $224.59 USD) increase after comments made by CEO Tim Cook to the German newspaper Bild indicated a “very strong start” for iPhone 11 sales.

JP Morgan has reportedly raised its iPhone sales forecasts for the current quarter by an additional 1 million units and 3 million more for Q4.

In a note to investors, JP Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee said they expect investor sentiment to improve, ‘given the firm’s ability to drive upward revision to volume expectations despite the 2019 product cycle largely considered to be a muted one’.

With Apple set to release their fourth-quarter report on 30 October, Cook “couldn’t be happier” with the launch, especially considering data gathered by Bloomberg, suggesting that more than 60% of Apple’s 2018 revenue came from the iPhone.

Considering the expected decline of 3.2% in the smartphone market for 2019 revealed by the Gartner institute, Apple will be looking to increase demand for a proposed ‘notchless’ 5G iPhone next year.

Research by Telsyte suggested the lack of a 5G iPhone affected smartphone demand (in Australia) and prolonged the iPhone replacement cycle, which now points to a ‘supercycle’ in 2020, as consumers replace their 4G handsets.

However, with a plethora of bug fixes in the latest iOS13 and the introduction of a patchless jailbreak tool, Apple will need to remain diligent if it wants to continue its growth beyond record numbers.