In prior years, demand for the latest flagship iPhone handset was critical to the results of the company over the holiday season shopping quarter.
However, it appears that dynamic may be changing as Apple’s lineup is widening of devices and services and is able to more than offset for any less demand during this current quarter for its flagship product the iPhone X that starts at $999.
On Tuesday of this week, Apple shares dropped 2.5% after a newspaper in Taiwan and several analysts in the industry suggested that sales of the iPhone X during Apple’s fiscal first quarter would only be 30 million or 20 million units less than was projected initially.
The mean estimated for revenue for the company’s holiday quarter amongst analysts sits at $86.5 billion, which is close to the high end of the forecast from Apple of between $84 billion and $87 billion.
Releasing a pair of new models as well as keeping its older ones have made the iPhone maker less dependent upon its flagship product.
One analyst said everyone knows that the strategy of Apple was different during the current quarter by its release of two iPhones, the 8 and X, and the combined sales will likely reach what is expected by analysts.
Apple has also fattened up its portfolio of other devices and accessories, from its wire headphones known as AirPods to its Apple Watch.
While none of the other products has become a hit, collectively all are important contributors, with the other products of Apple growing to more than $12.8 billion or 16% in 2016.
Customers who purchase the add-ons are also more likely to purchase services from its App store as well as Apple Music, of which both are part of its services segment, which increased by 23% last year to just less than $30 billion.
Ultimately, it would be this ownership of multi-devices that would generate more revenue, said analysts.
However, do not think that sales of iPhone X do not matter. Each unit is generally close to twice the amount of revenue of the iPhone 7 and has technologies such as facial recognition, but whether or not it will become mainstream has yet to be seen.
