All eyes will be on Apple on Monday as the iPhone maker gears up to report what Wall Street hopes are record holiday sales numbers — on the back of China.
Not only will the October to December quarter include all-important holiday sales, but it also marks revenue tied to its deal with China Mobile, which boasts more than 750 million users.
“Investors are optimistic that [iPhone sales] will grow much faster in China than the US,” said Brian Colello, an Apple analyst with research firm Morningstar.com.
Indeed, overall sales gains of smartphones and tablets are expected to slow in the US this year simply as the gadgets approach a saturation point.
The number of US smartphone users, for example, hit 56 percent in 2013, up from 35 percent in 2011, according to Pew Research Center data.
Apple has said it expects to report revenue of between $55 billion and $58 billion for the December quarter. If it achieves even the low end of that range, it will break the previous record Apple set in the first quarter of 2012 with revenue of $54.5 billion.
Wall Street analysts, meanwhile, are betting that Apple’s revenues will come in at around the mid-point of that range, at $56.7 billion, according to a consensus estimate by Thomson Financial.
Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research is predicting a record 57.5 million iPhones sold last quarter, up from 47.8 million during the last record set in the first quarter in 2013.
Sacconaghi predicts sales of iPads will do less well, however, up just 3 percent from last year at 23.5 million units, due to increased competition from cheaper Android tablets.