Apple is predicted to have a very successful Black Friday this year, and possibly the entire holiday shopping season, with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus leading the company’s charge.
Brian White, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, said that a robust economy and decreasing gas prices have strengthened consumer spending, allowing Apple to “shine bright this holiday season.”
White said, “We believe Apple’s new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will prove more popular this holiday season than any iPhone in Apple’s history given the distinctive features that include a much larger screen size, sleeker form factor, enhanced screen resolution (iPhone 6 Plus) and the ability to use Apple Pay.”
In Apple’s Sunday press release, the company noted that customers would receive a RED special edition gift card with a purchase of select Apple products in support of the 2014 World AIDS campaign. Apple also indicated that on December 1st, Apple would donate a portion of every sale of Apple’s in-store and online purchases to help combat AIDS.
Apple reported that it sold more than 10 million new iPhone units in the first weekend of September. In the company’s fourth quarter earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said that Apple has “done a pretty good job” managing the division of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, noting that the iPhone 6 Plus is still supply-constrained. Cook added, “But I’ll stop short of saying there is no issue at all, because it’s hard to tell when you are at a point where you are selling everything you are making. It is a good problem to have.”
In other Apple news, Cantor Fitzgerald’s White predicted that the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 are most likely to be the “go to” tablets this year. White also touted the new gold iPad option: “This is the first holiday season that consumers will be able to purchase a gold-colored iPad, and we expect this extra touch of “bling” to prove popular across the malls of America.”
In terms of Apple’s recently refreshed and revamped Mac lineup, in April Apple cut the price of the MacBook Air to $899, and has recently introduced new iMacs starting at $1,000, with the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display starting at $2,499. With that, the iMac lineup has demonstrated strength throughout the course of the year, giving Apple its highest PC market share since 1995, according to Cook’s note during the earnings call.
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