Apple Smashes Records: iPhone 17 Demand Fuels Historic 2025 Shipments
Apple's supply chain just got a caffeine injection—and Wall Street's popping champagne.
The iPhone 17's rocket-fueled demand is pushing Cupertino toward its biggest shipment year ever. Forget 'steady growth'—this is a supply chain moonshot.
Analysts are scrambling to upgrade forecasts while Foxconn quietly triples overtime pay. (Funny how those worker bonuses never appear in the ESG reports.)
The real question? Whether Tim Cook can keep this pace before regulators start eyeing Apple's dominance like a hawk circling a $3 trillion prey.
One thing's certain: while crypto traders chase the next meme coin, Apple keeps printing old-fashioned money—one hyper-polished slab of glass at a time.
Can Apple overtake Samsung?
IDC isn’t alone in seeing good things ahead for Apple. As reported by Cryptopolitan last week, another research company called Counterpoint Research said Apple WOULD ship more smartphones than Samsung in 2025. That hasn’t happened in 14 years.
But there might be bumps coming. Apple could delay the basic version of its next phone, the iPhone 18, until 2027. That would mess with the company’s usual routine of launching all its new models every fall. IDC thinks this delay might cause shipments to drop 4.2% next year.
Apple reported its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings in October, and the numbers beat what analysts expected. The company also gave a strong outlook for its December quarter.
CEO Tim Cook told CNBC’s Steve Kovach that revenue should rise at least 10%. “We expect total company revenue to grow by 10 to 12% year over year, we expect iPhone revenue to grow double digits, year over year, and we expect that that would make the December quarter the best ever in the history of the company,” Cook said.
Analysts surveyed by LSEG had predicted Apple would hit $132.31 billion in December quarter sales and earnings of $2.53 per share. Apple’s guidance goes past those numbers. If revenue grows 11% over last year’s December quarter, the period would bring in $137.97 billion.
Cook said the company feels good about these projections because customers have responded so well to the iPhone 17 devices. He called the reception “off the chart.” “We look at the results to date, the reception of the consumer on the very strong iPhone lineup,” Cook said. “We’re looking at traffic in our stores, which is up significantly year on year. We see enthusiasm around the world.”
Net income hit $27.46 billion during the quarter. That compares to $14.29 billion in the same period last year, though that earlier figure was lower because of a one-time tax charge.
For Apple’s fiscal 2025, total revenue came to $416 billion. That’s a 6% increase over 2024. Sales in the September quarter went up 8% from the year before.
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