Another way to look at 74.5 million iPhones in 90 days
My buddy Kirk came up with some analogies about just how much "stuff" 74.5 million iPhones represents. While I found his comparisons very interesting, as a Finance guy, I have a different method of comparison for you to consider…
I started with guesstimating the mix of of iPhone models and variations sold, using nothing more than common sense that says the mid-tier version would be most popular, with a few more people opting for high-end over low-end:
| Pricing | Sales Mix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Entry | Mid | High | Entry | Mid | High |
| 6 | $649 | $749 | $849 | 15% | 60% | 25% |
| 6+ | $749 | $849 | $949 | 15% | 60% | 25% |
| 5s | $549 | $599 | 50% | 50% | ||
| 5c | $450 | 100% | ||||
I then estimated the sales mix by iPhone model, using Tim Cook's statement that the iPhone 6 was the most popular. I distributed the rest of the mix assuming that the newer models would sell more than the older models. Once I had the mix percentages, that let me calculate an average selling price for each phone. Combine that with the estimated sales mix, and out pops revenue by phone line:
| Model | Avg Sale | Share of Total | Units (Mil) | Revenue ($Mil) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 759 | 50% | 37.3 | $28,273 |
| 6+ | 859 | 30% | 22.4 | $19,199 |
| 5s | 574 | 15% | 11.2 | $6,414 |
| 5c | 450 | 5% | 3.6 | $1,676 |
| Totals | 74.5 | $55,562 | ||
All those numbers and assumptions crunch down to this:
In one quarter, Apple's iPhone business was somewhere around $55.5 billion dollars in revenue.
One quarter. Not a year. A quarter. Ninety days.
But just on that one quarter's iPhone sales, "Apple iPhones Inc." would be number 50 on the 2014 Fortune 500, coming in just below Caterpillar ($55.656 billion), and above UPS ($55.438 billion). Remember, those are full year results, versus just one quarter's iPhone sales.
A couple other fun comparisons using these assumptions:
- Google's full-year revenue in 2014 was $60.2 billion, ranking them only four spots ahead of one quarter's worth of "Apple iPhones Inc." on the Fortune 500.
- Using last year's 169,170,000 total iPhones sold, "Apple iPhones Inc." would be number 13 on the Fortune 500, ranking between CVS and Fannie Mae.
74.5 million iPhones in one quarter is a stunningly huge number. Huge enough to put the fictitious "Apple iPhones Inc" company well up the Fortune 500 based on just 90 days' sales. Mind…blown.