UBS’ Evidence Lab predicts that 53.9 million iPhones will be purchased in the current quarter

According to Wall Street investment house Morgan Stanley, its AlphaWise Smartphone Tracker survey forecasts that there is enough demand in the market for Apple to sell 53 million iPhones in the current quarter that just started this month. That dovetails with UBS’ Evidence Lab, which used an analysis of search requests from July, to predict demand of 53.9 million iPhone units for the three months that ends on New Year’s Eve.

If Apple does sell 53 million iPhone handsets in the current quarter, it would be Apple’s third best quarter ever for iPhone sales. It also would be a year-over-year gain of 35% from the 39.3 million units Apple sold during September-December 2014. Last quarter, Apple also saw iPhone sales gain 35% over the previous year’s three-month period.

The September quarter is an important one for Apple since it is the first to include sales of the latest new iPhone models. Last year, Apple increased the screen size on the Apple iPhone 6 to 4.7-inches from the 4-inches that the Apple iPhone 5s offered. In addition, the tech titan added its 5.5-inch Apple iPhone 6 Plus phablet. This year, the inclusion of Force Touch is supposed to be the killer new feature.

For the record, Morgan Stanley’s Apple analyst, Katy Huberty, predicts that 49 million iPhones will be purchased this quarter.

source: Forbes