Oliver Haslam on November 12, 2017, 5:05 am

iPhone X Demand To Remain High In 2018, iPhone 8 Plus Sales Higher Than Expected

A new note for investors from KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has covered expectations for the iPhone X through the 2017 holiday quarter while also mentioning the impact the new addition to the iPhone lineup is having on the almost-as-new iPhone 8, which Kuo believes is selling in smaller quantities than had been initially expected.

According to Kuo’s note, the iPhone X will see production of between 25 and 27 million units for the holiday quarter, with sell through anticipated to be somewhere between those two figures. Moving into an important 2018 for Apple, expectations are that production will grow 35-45% quarter-on-quarter. Demand for the iPhone X is expected to remain strong going into 2018, according to the note.

As for the iPhone 8 which Kuo believes is having its lunch eaten by the iPhone X, expectations are that production will decline by anywhere up to 60% during Q1 2018 compared to the holiday quarter that precedes it. Kuo’s belief is that the iPhone 8 lacks major selling points, impacting demand across the board.

However, the iPhone 8 Plus appears to be somewhat immune to the impact of the iPhone X. The 5.5-inch display of the iPhone 8 Plus is likely what is keeping it in contention, though the same seems to be cannibalizing sales of the smaller 4.7-inch iPhone 8.

Apple has not been forthcoming about the new iPhones’ sales and we are unlikely to discover just how iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X sales compare beyond some guesswork coming out of analytics firms.

What we do know is that cumulatively, it is a fairly safe bet that Apple will sell a lot of iPhones this holiday quarter, with the company expecting record revenues as a result.