Did Apple sell over 50 million Apple iPhones during the last quarter?

A week from today, Apple will release its fiscal first quarter earnings. Wall Street analysts have used calculators, abacuses, fingers and toes trying to compute how many iPhones the Cupertino based tech titan sold over the three month period. After all, that is the $64 million billion dollar question. Figure out how many units of its iconic smartphone Apple sold in the quarter, and the world is your oyster.

So just how many iPhones did Apple sell in its first fiscal quarter? Keep in mind that this is the last three month period that will not include sales from China Mobile. The world's largest carrier, with 763 million subscribers, launched the Apple iPhone 5s and Apple iPhone 5c on Friday.

44 analysts, 27 of them professionals who ply their trade on the Street, have a consensus estimate of 55.3 million iPhones sold in the period. That would be a 16% gain over the same period last year. And this year, both the pros and the amateurs are not that far apart with their estimates. The average guess from amateurs is that Apple sold 57.1 million units of the iPhone last quarter. That is just 3 million more than the estimates from the professionals.

The most bullish guess comes from non-pro Faizal Kara from the Braeburn Group, who expects Apple to report 59.73 million iPhone sales for the quarter. The same Group is responsible for the lowest estimate, 50 million units sold, which comes from Ilari Scheinin. Last year, Apple reported sales of 47.79 million iPhones for the first quarter.  In case you're wondering, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster is looking for Apple to report 55.5 million iPhones sold in the quarter while Peter Misek of Jefferies is looking for Apple to report sales of 55 million units for the period.


source: Fortune via Ubergizmo