Apple Australia

Back in April, Apple released its latest quarterly earnings report. Unfortunately, as is par for the course, the company didn’t divulge specific numbers. Not even for the iPhone. That’s why analysts have some room to weigh in.

Which is exactly what Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, LLC (CIRP) is doing this week. The group has just released its latest report reflecting Apple’s latest quarter. According to the researchers, Apple’s installed base in the United States is now at 193 million units. That data reflects a period ending March 30, 2019.

That compares to 189 million installed base as of December of last year. Last year at this time, Apple was sitting at 173 million installed base.

“The US installed base of iPhones continues to plateau,” said Josh Lowitz, CIRP Partner and Co-Founder. “Relative to the most recent quarters, and especially to the past two or three years, slowing unit sales and longer ownership periods means that the growth in the number of US iPhones has flattened considerably. Of course, 12% growth in a year, after years of much greater growth is still good. However, investors grew accustomed to quarterly growth of 5% or more, and annual growth of almost 20%. This continuing trend prompts investors to wonder if iPhone sales outside of the US will compensate, and places greater pressure on Apple’s determination to sell other products and services to the installed base of iPhone owners.”

CIRP adds to that, saying that it expects Apple had global sales of 39 million iPhones.

If you’re curious about how CIRP uses its surveys to come to these conclusions, this is how they describe it:

“CIRP bases its findings on its survey of 500 US Apple customers, surveyed from March 31, 2019 – April 11, 2019 that purchased an iPhone, iPad, or Mac in the US in January- March 2019 period.”

Apple’s latest quarterly earnings were ridiculous, as usual. However, it is the company’s Services division that is getting a lot of attention as of late. And that will likely be the case for many years to come.