Gene Munster says goodbye with a final call for Apple to sell 170 million iPhones in fiscal 2018

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has been quoted in many of our stories over the years. He is taking his analytical skills to a different part of the financial industry as he starts a Venture Capital firm. In his final note to Piper's institutional traders, Munster gave his expectations about what he believes will be in store for Apple over the next five-years.

Munster's 874th note about Apple said that services are the next frontier for the tech titan. If the company cannot make that change, investors will once again be forced to focus on unit growth and innovation. Speaking of unit growth, Munster says that the March and June quarters next year will see Apple topping the Street's expectations for sales of Apple iPhone 7 and Apple iPhone 7 Plus.

The analyst predicts that the tenth anniversary iPhone, with a rumored edge-to-edge OLED panel, will produce high single-digit to low double-digit growth next year. Calling the premium anniversary model the iPhone 10, Munster expects sales of 170 million units of the iPhone during Apple's fiscal year 2018 which starts October 1st, 2017.

To be considered a services company by investors, Munster said that Apple would have to produce 50% of its revenue or more from back end businesses. In addition, Apple would have to sell cheaper devices and accept lower profit margins.


Some time in the next five years, Munster sees Apple replacing the iPhone with a wearable device using Augmented and Mixed Reality. He also expects automobiles to be the next major platform that Apple will dominate.

source: AppleInsider