Apple Planning to Make Over 40 Million iPhones in Next 12 Months?

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

BusinessWeek claims (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2008/tc20080821_199140.htm) that Apple's manufacturing plans for the iPhone are rather ambitious. According to their sources, Apple is planning to build 40 million to 45 million iPhone 3Gs in the next 12 months. While final sales can't be known until after the fact, clues are emerging as to Apple's production plans. As of mid-August, they were ambitious, BusinessWeek has learned. Apple plans to build 40 million to 45 million iPhone 3Gs in the 12 months through August 2009, according to a person familiar with the company's plans.The article goes on to say that daily production of the iPhone 3G is now at 150,000 units per day. These numbers are close to (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/04/apple-ramps-production-to-800000-iphones-a-week/) previous claims that Apple is producing 800,000 devices a week.

Part of the ramp up in production is, of course, due to Apple's aggressive international expansion. The Apple's iPhone 3G is launching (http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2008/08/22/apple-launching-iphone-3g-in-22-countries-today//) internationally in 20 countries today.

Article Link (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/22/apple-planning-to-make-over-40-million-iphones-in-2009/)

[myod-rules]

Smashing past 10 million!

[Prof.]

So... are these iPhones actually gonna work? I mean, they'll get 3G service right?:rolleyes:

[Solosmooth]

Oh good, more iphones. Apple is gonna have to make as many as they can for the recall. Only 2% of the market is affected? Yeah, Right:mad:

[raskar]

So... are these iPhones actually gonna work? I mean, they'll get 3G service right?:rolleyes:

For God sake stop moaning about your 3G service.. all the people i know have no problems with their 3G reception!! Battery life impact I agree but apple already said that this will be an issue.

Some people just keep on and on..

[nos]

Great!

I'm not upgrading to 3G, I like the looks of the first gen.
The 3G is awfully expensive in Belgium too,
the only incentive to buy it is turn by turn GPS right now.

[entropys]

I find this hardly credible. Possible if there is a larger number of models, especially lower spec models at a lower price point. Like an iphone nano. 40 million is similar to the number of ipods, which all sell at a lower price.

Not possible as a single smartphone model. How many blackberries have been sold in total? About 15 million isn't it?

[zigziggityzoo]

Arn, do you ever sleep?

[nanaky]

For God sake stop moaning about your 3G service.. all the people i know have no problems with their 3G reception!! Battery life impact I agree but apple already said that this will be an issue.

Some people just keep on and on..

Yeah, all the people i know has no problems with 3G...

[koobcamuk]

Arn, do you ever sleep?

I don't think he does... but you must remember that when posting under the name MacRumors, it can be one of many people making that post ;)

[DonSqueak]

Apple must be careful now: If they expand to quickly the overall ability to cope with problems on so many battle-fields is going to decrease rapidly. They are in a rather nasty dilemma now:

A) They can't stop expanding, because the stock market would kill them. Companies always have to increase profitability, right? Moving backwards or standing still is no option.

B) If they expand (see A), they might lose focus. See MobileMe, iPhone BugWare, Cracking Plastic, 3G Nonreception issues etc. Oh, and they do develop other stuff as well, so they need more ppl.

C) Having more people becomes a problem of control and, if ever something goes wrong, the FiringPeopleIsNotPopular backlash sets in.

D) etc.

;-) dsq

[k'five]

For God sake stop moaning about your 3G service.. all the people i know have no problems with their 3G reception!!


Yes! Get it right you twits.

1. If Raskar doesn't know anyone with the problem, there is no problem!!!
2. Shutup until you are instructed to speak!

I look forward to the day Apple hires Raskar for customer service, and discovers they can lay everyone else in the department off, since there really are no hardware & software failures, only customer failures.

[solipsism]

I find this hardly credible. Possible if there is a larger number of models, especially lower spec models at a lower price point. Like an iphone nano. 40 million is similar to the number of ipods, which all sell at a lower price.

Not possible as a single smartphone model. How many blackberries have been sold in total? About 15 million isn't it?

1) Cellphones vastly outsell cellphones. In the US, 17% of them are smartphones, a number which as been increasing because of the iPhone, and just with sales of the iPhone but for all smartphones as they no longer considered hardcore business or geek devices.

2) If you have to have a cellphone and you want an iPod for music and/or video getting an iPhone isn't a bad way to go. You get to consolidate two devices into one and get much better iPod experience than if you just had a Nano for $200 or more. Since you're already paying a monthly fee for cellular service adding the data package to get a great mobile internet experience on a phone you actually like is a big draw, even if it doesn't have some of the features you wish it did.

3) RiM has said it expects to sell its 40 millionth device this summer. Its subscriber base will probably be just under 20 million.

4) The 2nd quarter of this calendar year RiM sold 5.4 million devices. That is over 20 million for the year if all things are equal, but smartphones are on the rise and their Thunder is due out mid-October. There is also the Holiday quarter but i figure the 22% drop in the 1st quarter pretty much cancels that out.

[patricksan]

Great!

I'm not upgrading to 3G, I like the looks of the first gen.
The 3G is awfully expensive in Belgium too,
the only incentive to buy it is turn by turn GPS right now.


I hope some of them come to Belgium. Because it is quite difficult to find them here.


Patrick

[princealfie]

40 million isn't that much when you compare to the number of Hondas and Toyotas sold per year. Come on, it's a phone and pumping out 3 million per month isn't gonna sweat Apple any more than those kiddies throwing out Big Macs to the unsuspecting dopeheads who munch those suckers each and everyday. Didn't the Big McD claim selling their billionth Big M. back in the early 90's. Apple has a LONG way before catching up to McD on peddling their delicious iPhone :apple:

[DonSqueak]

40 million isn't that much when you compare to the number of Hondas and Toyotas sold per year. Come on, it's a phone and pumping out 3 million per month isn't gonna sweat Apple any more than those kiddies throwing out Big Macs to the unsuspecting dopeheads who munch those suckers each and everyday. Didn't the Big McD claim selling their billionth Big M. back in the early 90's. Apple has a LONG way before catching up to McD on peddling their delicious iPhone :apple:

40 million isn't much compared to 40 gazillion. What does that prove? How are phones burgers? Why would one eat an iPhone? What are you talking about?

;-) dsq.

[princealfie]

40 million isn't much compared to 40 gazillion. What does that prove? How are phones burgers? Why would one eat an iPhone? What are you talking about?

;-) dsq.

Well, the iPhone is a consumer product. The Big McD is a consumer product. For me, they are consumer goods in the end and seeing as the iPhone has a higher profit margin, I prefer to see Apple dominate Mickey D's very soon as a lifestyle product.

Plus, iPhone is better for vegans ya know? :):D:cool:

[macwall]

that's a lot of iphones

[DonSqueak]

Well, the iPhone is a consumer product. The Big McD is a consumer product. For me, they are consumer goods in the end and seeing as the iPhone has a higher profit margin, I prefer to see Apple dominate Mickey D's very soon as a lifestyle product.

Plus, iPhone is better for vegans ya know? :):D:cool:

Based on that you could compare Jaguar cars to toilet paper. You have to differentiate, you know, cuz otherwise everything is the same, i. e. everything becomes BigMacs.

dsq.

[matthewlesh]

150,000 units per day

Holy Crap.. think about that everyone.. that's just amazing.

They must be raking in some big $$$...

But also at those leavls how can they keep up quality control.. [well i guess by employing more cute iPhone girls]

[kjs862]

Come on Apple, get those bugs worked out so you guys don't build up a bad rap - thats a lot of iphones out there.

[sjo]

I find this hardly credible. Possible if there is a larger number of models, especially lower spec models at a lower price point. Like an iphone nano. 40 million is similar to the number of ipods, which all sell at a lower price.

Not possible as a single smartphone model. How many blackberries have been sold in total? About 15 million isn't it?

well it's not credible at the current price point. it's credible at significantly lower price point (and i mean both the upfront payment and monthly plan costs).

[onicon]

good thing. might increase the chance of getting my iphone 3g soon then.

[bobbleheadbob]

The hardware production is separate from the software issues they are experiencing now with 2.0, 2.0.1, and 2.0.2. I hope they sell 100,000,000 phones -- and that version 2.1 comes out and fixes the bugs ASAP! :D

[SPUY767]

If Apple can sell all of those, I may get to retire on my Apple stock.

[hob]

If Apple can sell all of those, I may get to retire on my Apple stock.

And I had the chance to buy at 80 per share... d'oh!

Come on Apple, get those bugs worked out so you guys don't build up a bad rap - thats a lot of iphones out there.

I think the 3G already has a bad reputation. I don't know anyone with one, so all I know is what I see on MacRumors - and what I see isn't good!

I do still want one though :p

[iGary]

I think the 3G already has a bad reputation. I don't know anyone with one, so all I know is what I see on MacRumors - and what I see isn't good!

I do still want one though :p

I loves me some original iPhone.

[raskar]

Yeah, all the people i know has no problems with 3G...

sure..

and why is it not the provider to blame? oh.. it must be the iPhone cause some research office said so!! :rolleyes:

[happydude]

but how many are crack replacements?! huh apple, why don't you acknowledge this problem with your manufacturing? why? why? why?

[raskar]

Yes! Get it right you twits.

1. If Raskar doesn't know anyone with the problem, there is no problem!!!
2. Shutup until you are instructed to speak!

I look forward to the day Apple hires Raskar for customer service, and discovers they can lay everyone else in the department off, since there really are no hardware & software failures, only customer failures.

I must have pissed you off big time matie.. easy easy :D

if you cant use your iPhone get less sophisticated tool, SOROBAN (Japanese calculator) ;-)

[Lesser Evets]

45,000,001 if AT&T would move 20 miles west.

[Digitalclips]

that's a lot of iphones

Apple may also have another price drop up their sleeves or perhaps this production figure includes a yet to be revealed new iPhone at a lower price point? Apple, one of the most conservative companies out there when it comes to predictions, knows something we don't if this is true.

[Digitalclips]

If Apple can sell all of those, I may get to retire on my Apple stock.

Want to see faith? My entire IRA went into AAPL at $35 a share ... fingers crossed since :)

[Fidgetyrat]

Apple may also have another price drop up their sleeves

Unfortunately, for people like myself who have not yet adopted an iPhone and really want one, the problem is not the cost of the phone..

The problem is the cost of the required service.


Overall though, I would like to see them focus more on releasing a stable rock-solid product over pounding out more and more bug laden products. This has been a bad year for apple stability (in my opinion anyway).

1) MobileMe launch was horrible
2) iPhone Bugs
3) Leopard release wasn't on par with previous versions (possibly causing snow leopard development).

I'm actually nervous about the potential new MBPs on the horizon. Especially since I will be purchasing a Rev A product...

[Rocketman]

daily production of the iPhone 3G is now at 150,000 units per day.

I remember when ANNUAL production of desktop machines with about the same compute capacity of an iPhone was that at Apple.

You've come a long way, baby!

Rocketman

[Lesser Evets]

I remember when ANNUAL production of desktop machines with about the same compute capacity of an iPhone was that at Apple.

You've come a long way, baby!

I am not sure how to figure the computer power between iPhone and a desktop, but in terms of memory of the drive alone this thing is on par with fresh desktop from 9 years ago. And I am sure the computing power is better in the iPhone, though you can't do everything a desktop can do.

It is pretty amazing.

[kwfl]

I am not sure how to figure the computer power between iPhone and a desktop, but in terms of memory of the drive alone this thing is on par with fresh desktop from 9 years ago. And I am sure the computing power is better in the iPhone, though you can't do everything a desktop can do.

It is pretty amazing.

an iphone does not have todays desktop disk space
it has the 9 year old desktop disk space

lets compare, can a 9 year old desktop do your billing on the road?

maybe that is a bit harsh

can todays desktops do your billing on the road?

oh i forgot, you are comparing a phone to a desktop, more like comparing a plane to a bus.

[Lesser Evets]

oh i forgot, you are comparing a phone to a desktop, more like comparing a plane to a bus.

That was my point - I am not sure how to figure the computer power between iPhone and a desktop, but in terms of memory of the drive alone this thing is on par with fresh desktop from 9 years ago.

It isn't as rounded a machine, but in terms of computing power I am not sure how you calculate it due to caches and busses, etc. The processor is said to be 620Mhz, which is approximately the speed of machines from 2001, but the processors are different.

[alphaod]

Apple is ambitious I see.

[morespce54]

Bang. How's that for Seinfeld???
Oups, wrong thread... ;)

[bug67]

They might be able to swing those numbers. As long as the factory workers quit screwing off on the job, (http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2008/08/20/iphone-factory-worker-photos-found-on-new-iphone/) I think they can do it. :p

[franzmueller]

and I´m still waiting to get mine since launch day , there are NO iphones here in Spain
150 .000 per day ? where the hell are all those units going ?

can´t believe it :mad:

Telefonica told me today that they are awaiting a ! big ! stock delivery on mid September .... but he forgot to tell me which year :D

Saludos

[Rot'nApple]

40 million isn't much compared to 40 gazillion. What does that prove? How are phones burgers? Why would one eat an iPhone? What are you talking about?

;-) dsq.


If Homer Simpson were here right now, I could hear him say (as a little drool slides out of the corner of his mouth)....

Mmmmmm.... phone burgers... :rolleyes:

[iProgrammer]

This mean the prices will drop, no?

[Compile 'em all]

For God sake stop moaning about your 3G service.. all the people i know have no problems with their 3G reception!! Battery life impact I agree but apple already said that this will be an issue.

Some people just keep on and on..

Service issues, dropped calls, apps crashing, lag in specific apps like contacts and SMSs are wide spread device-specific problems that were acknowledged by Apple. Go do some reading...

The fact that Apple introduced bugs in rather simple basic apps like contacts with every firmware incarnation is hilarious and sad. regression tests at its best.

[.:R2theT]

This mean the prices will drop, no?

No. Why drop the price if you still can't fill current demand? I don't see why why would go any further down in price. Maybe next year if they can hit $99 once SSD drop even further. But at that point they just raise the GB bar and keep the price the same. That's pretty much what they have done with iPods and seems to have worked quite well. Keep the rings through the register up and keep gross profit up. That's why investors like Apple. To have consistently pulled 35% gross profit while having continued growth is quite a coupe in tech. And to have been doing that for years, the markets like Apple!

[akira2501]

So when you think about it, it's not really that many iphones. The US alone has 300 million people and say only 5% buy an iphone. Thats alot of people still. THey may eventually lower prices still with carriers worldwide picking up the cost difference via their plans.

[jholzner]

but how many are crack replacements?! huh apple, why don't you acknowledge this problem with your manufacturing? why? why? why?

Probably not many because not that many had cracks. The owners of the ones that did screamed their heads off so it seems like every iPhone on the planet was cracked...not the case. They should replace those but I'm sure it was not many with issues.

[tMac85]

Arn, do you ever sleep?

hahaha

[cameronjpu]

What happened?

[absolutic]

I have my 3G since Day 1, its been over a month, is there still a shortage in the U.S. I did see some line at Santa Monica Apple store, Is there still a shortage? If there is one, then I understand them producing as many as possible. It is a good phone for $199 and when they slash prices to $149 or $99 for Xmas, it will be insane.

[dongmin]

Apple will easily move 12 mil to 15 mil, in the US alone. Considering Apple's aggressive push into emerging markets like Russia and, down-the-line, China, I don't think 35 mil for the rest of the world is that off the mark.

I see countries like Japan, Russia, China, England, France, and maybe Canada moving a couple mil each. That leaves the rest of the world (65+ countries) having to move 250,000 each, which should be fairly attainable.

[w00master]

Probably not many because not that many had cracks. The owners of the ones that did screamed their heads off so it seems like every iPhone on the planet was cracked...not the case. They should replace those but I'm sure it was not many with issues.

Amazing how when something goes wrong and people (rightfully) complain about it, the apologists come out in droves calling all of them "whiners." Typical.

:rolleyes:

I'd rather Apple fix the problems with Apps crashing, bugs with the firmware, etc. But of course, the apologist would call me a "whiner."

w00master

[iphonewiz]

Can you say $99 iPhone!

[cameronjpu]

It is a good phone for $199 and when they slash prices to $149 or $99 for Xmas, it will be insane.

Lol... don't hold your breath!

[Michael73]

I this bad news for anyone holding out for next gen of this product?

Does this mean it will be [at least] 13 months between the launch of iPhone 3g and whatever major revision comes next? That's like 400ish days that's like double the average refresh cycle of most of the other stuff in the buying guide.

[NAG]

Amazing how when something goes wrong and people (rightfully) complain about it, the apologists come out in droves calling all of them "whiners." Typical.

:rolleyes:
Amazing how when something goes wrong and someone points out that it is a relatively isolated incident, the people with the problem run around calling everyone who doesn't agree with them an "apologist" who calls them whiners (notice how I used quotation marks correctly, unlike you).

But of course, the apologist would call me a "whiner."

w00master
In case you didn't pick up on my previous comment, could you please point out where the person you quoted called you a "whiner" or are you just setting up a strawman?

[andiwm2003]

hm, 40mio iphones times $400 each is 16 billion in sales and that's probably 4 billion profit.

assumption is that carriers subsidize each phone with $200 and that apple make 25% profit.

anyway, if that holds true we should expect great things for apple, mac software and iphone apps. apple will reinvest this money.

i just wonder what happens in 2009/2010 when people have their iphones. how many will upgrade every year? i didn't upgrade to the G3 and i won't until i have to. will the market saturate already 2010?

[MvdM]

What about making 40 million good iPhones? Phones that don't have a cracking case or loose their connection.

[w00master]

Amazing how when something goes wrong and someone points out that it is a relatively isolated incident, the people with the problem run around calling everyone who doesn't agree with them an "apologist" who calls them whiners (notice how I used quotation marks correctly, unlike you).

And you use those quotes quite well.

Imho, it doesn't matter if it's an isolated incident, and I'm not just talking about the crack issue. If these issues were to happen to me personally, which they have with Me.com, then imho I have the right to complain until I get an answer. If you choose to call me a "whiner," then I feel every right to call you an "apologist" who thinks Apple can do no wrong. If you look at a lot of the posts across the large number of articles posted not only on this site, but on other sites, you will see time and time again the apologists posting comments with the implication that Apple does no wrong.

In case you didn't pick up on my previous comment, could you please point out where the person you quoted called you a "whiner" or are you just setting up a strawman?

The implication is there. What I am talking about is the ongoing debate on this site as well as other sites. *Many* of these apologists are continually calling us "whiners." Guess what, if these issues were happening to you, I guarantee you'd be complaining about it.

You can deny it if you want. That's fine by me, but if you really look, *every* single time there's a problem with some Apple product, you'll see the apologists attack the "whiners."

See? I love using quotes.

w00master

[mcdj]

Sweet! 40 million phones made by a factory that can barely handle 1 million...the QC oughta be nice and tight.

http://rknydesign.com/40mil.JPG

[The Tall One]

Isn't a new one coming out in January?

[gcmexico]

geez...that's so many iphones!!!!

[twoodcc]

now that is a lot of iPhones. i don't doubt it though, the way it's selling. and they're expanding to more countries

[iNassar]

40 million iphones haha wow seems like steve jobs is going to have a good year.

[macshill]

Sweet! 40 million phones made by a factory that can barely handle 1 million...the QC oughta be nice and tight.

http://rknydesign.com/40mil.JPG

http://i33.tinypic.com/2vtvcar.jpg

I'll stick w/ my upcoming Zunefone, tyvm. ;)

[winterspan]

40 million isn't that much when you compare to the number of Hondas and Toyotas sold per year. Come on, it's a phone and pumping out 3 million per month isn't gonna sweat Apple any more than those kiddies throwing out Big Macs to the unsuspecting dopeheads who munch those suckers each and everyday. *snip*

Those have got to be two of the most egregious abominations of an analogy I've seen in a long time... :eek::):)

[jmooring]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5B108 Safari/525.20)

Apple really needs to shore up quality control before they crank out 40 million more of these things. I was just in one of their stores and all of their phones had 3G disabled. If you turn it on you get no service at all. Every iPhone exhibited the cracked cases we've been hearing about. Not to mention this phone just feels a lot cheaper with the plastic back. Love my first gen which feels solid and performs just fine. Looking forward to the third gen I guess...

[concordeBOAC]

For God sake stop moaning about your 3G service.. all the people i know have no problems with their 3G reception!! Battery life impact I agree but apple already said that this will be an issue.

Some people just keep on and on..

Hey mate...all the people I know DO have bad 3G reception. Even poor Edge reception. So do I tell you to stop submitting pointless posts ????

[Trajectory]

Damn that is a lot of iPhones. I hope they fixed the cracking problem before they build all of those phones.

[radical]

I think these numbers are being hyped. Considering many of those 20 countries that iPhone has gone on sale in, its price is sky high due to the binding time. In Estonia (click here for the packages and prices (http://tekkie.flashbit.net/telecom/iphone-3g-pricing-announced-for-estonia)) iPhone would cost a person around 1 000 EUR over a 24-month period which is also pretty much the case in Sweden (http://tekkie.flashbit.net/telecom/3g-iphone-pricing-announced-for-sweden).

[thetoothfairy]

Service issues, dropped calls, apps crashing, lag in specific apps like contacts and SMSs are wide spread device-specific problems that were acknowledged by Apple. Go do some reading...

The fact that Apple introduced bugs in rather simple basic apps like contacts with every firmware incarnation is hilarious and sad. regression tests at its best.

I have to agree.... I am sooooooooooo tired of installing apps that it is not funny! Get a phone call they crash.... get a text message they crash.... and this is my second 3G! The first one turned into a brick when someone called me! All I want is a iPhone that works without all of these bugs!