A woman looks at the screen of her mobile phone in front of an Apple logo outside its store in downtown Shanghai September 10, 2013.
A woman looks at the screen of her mobile phone in front of an Apple logo outside its store in downtown Shanghai September 10, 2013. Reuters

Apple is again set to wrap up a record quarter this March thanks to impending massive iPhone buys, providing the momentum for the device’s refresh, the iPhone 6S that is, the release date of which could come as early as August 2015. In closing down the first quarter of the year, the tech giant stands to clear at least 58 million of fresh units.

The sales figures would have been higher, according to UBS, but it is expected that Apple would have a hard time meeting the heavy demands for its 2014 flagship. Per Apple Insider, the company would push out 58 million iPhones by the end of March despite the overwhelming global consumer demand.

In the event Apple could rush sufficient units to the market, sales could go as high as 66 million units, the report added. That would be just some eight million short of the 74.5 million units that the company sold during the first three months that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus became available. Still, Q1 2015 promises another record-breaking period for Apple, UBS said.

The China factor

While the continuing upsurge involves 20 major markets around the world, the UBS data also underscored the rising popularity of iPhone in China. Web searches for the smartphone brand jumped by over 100 per cent in the past 12 months, mostly translating to actual sales numbers, Apple Insider said on its report.

A host of other factors contributed to Apple’s sustained rampage. One is the spill-over effect of the 2014 holiday quarter and the huge migration seen from the Android sphere following the iPhone 6 touchdown. Specifically, around 20 per cent of Samsung Galaxy owners had expressed interest on switching to the new iPhone, the report said.

Looking forward to the next iPhone

And the likelihood is, history will repeat shortly after the next iPhone is out. If the latest reports from China – where the device is assembled each year – would prove correct, the waiting time for the handset will not be that long. The iPhone 6S, based on the information obtained by Gizmo China, as early as August or September 2015.

The tech blog site, pointing to micro-blogging site Weibo as source, claimed that mass production for the 2015 iPhones will commence June. That would give Apple the perfect window time to gun for an earlier iPhones 6S rollout. With the advanced preparation in place, the worst thing that could happen is Apple would simply issue its new smartphone at around the same time the iPhone 6 arrived last year.

Interestingly, Gizmo China appears confident that Apple will finally boost the RAM provisions for its flagship. From the 1GB found in the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6S will unwrap boasting an upgraded 2GB of RAM, the report said.

So Apple will continue to make a killing for the most part of the year, likely experiencing a short period of relative lull in the mid-part of 2015, before exploding anew immediately after the iPhone 6S release date.

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