Report: Apple ups iPhone shipment target
Digitimes claims Apple has told Taiwanese component suppliers that it expects to ship 20 million to 21 million iPhones in 2011's first quarter, with almost 25 percent of them CDMA phones.
Apple reportedly expects to ship 20 million to 21 million iPhones around the world next quarter, with almost 25 percent of them CDMA phones.
At least, that's the latest from the folks at DigiTimes.
Citing the usual sources from Taiwan-based component suppliers, DigiTimes says Apple bumped its first-quarter 2011 shipment goal to the 20 million to 21 million range from 19 million units previously, telling its component suppliers to get ready to fill that new target.
If true, that'll be a healthy jump from the 15.5 million units that will have shipped during the fourth quarter, according to estimates indicated by the sources. For the full year, the sources say Apple will have shipped 47 million iPhones around the world.
But the juiciest bit of information unveiled by DigiTimes focuses specifically on CDMA phones.
For the first quarter, Apple is eyeing a shipment target of 5 million to 6 million CDMA iPhones. Verizon's network runs on CDMA. The sources say all those phones will ship to North America and Asia Pacific during the first quarter, adding fuel to the fire behind reports calling for Verizon to get the iPhone next quarter.
We e-mailed Apple for confirmation/comment about the DigiTimes report, but the company did not immediately respond. We'll update this story if we hear anything back.
Hitting markets outside North America and Asia Pacific, Apple has also increased its first-quarter shipment goal of WCDMA iPhones to 14 million to 15 million, up from 13 million, according to the sources cited by DigiTimes.
Though rumors of a Verizon iPhone have persisted for a couple of years, more news sources and analysts have chimed in lately trying to give some credence to those claims. In October, the Wall Street Journal said Apple was prepping to make a CDMA iPhone. Fortune soon followed by citing sources who said that a Verizon iPhone was a "fait accompli."
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster also offered his take recently, calling for Verizon to launch the iPhone about midway through the first quarter of next year.