Apple Sells a Record-Breaking 74.5 Million iPhones in the First Quarter of 2015

Last week we covered Apple's dominance over Samsung in South Korean smartphone sales, but it appears the company's recently released first quarter figures further illustrate the iPhone's record-breaking sales performance as of recent.

Thanks to the strong launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple was able to sell almost 75 million iPhones in just the first quarter of this fiscal year. In addition to posting all-time best numbers in iPhone sales, the company also sold 21.4 million iPads in the first quarter, which is nearly as much as they sold during the entire year in 2014 (26 million).

The 74.5 million iPhones sold is a 41% increase over the previous Apple record of 51 million iPhones sold in a quarter (Q1 2014), and a 46% increase over the previous year. The figure is even more dominant than the consensus estimate by Wall Street analysts, who had initially projected 67 million iPhone sales in the first quarter. In addition to selling more phones, Apple also managed to raised the price of each device by an average of $50.

If you divide the number of days in the fiscal quarter by the total number of smartphones sold by Apple you come to the realization that in order for Apple to have achieved this pace they had to have sold around 34,000 smartphones per hour, every hour of the first quarter of 2015. Of course, if you multiply that number by 24,you get the average number of smartphones sold by Apple each day in the quarter, which comes to a staggering 816,000 smartphones per day.

Where does the next headline go from here? I can see it now: “Apple selling 1 million smartphones per day.” They're already more than 80% of the way there.

As far as financial stats go, according to Forbes, Apple posted a net of $18 billion in this record-breaking first quarter, a nearly $5 million increase over last year's first quarter. Amazingly, according to S&P Capital IQ, Apple's first quarter profits this year exceeded the total profits made over the past 5 years by each of the 435 of the 500 companies on the S&P 500 index

Going Big Was the Right Move

The numbers show that Apple not only has the most loyal customer base of perhaps any tech brand in the world, they also reveal that the Cupertino-based iPhone maker was absolutely right about the decision to focus on larger display sizes, even after the initial backlash facilitated by an overhyped problem that circulated around Twitter behind the hashtag #Bendgate.

Despite it's seemingly awkward length, the oversized phablet-like iPhone 6 Plus seemed to be the sole cause for the higher-than-expected first quarter sales increase. In addition to the 6 Plus, the largest version of the conventional iPhone 6 was also a best-seller in the series.

Apple seems to have successfully appealed to a broad audience of consumers that were undoubtedly impressed when they saw such a large iPhone, as Apple enthusiasts have gotten used to seeing iPhones max out in the 5-inch range.

Increased Regional Device Sales in Asia Also a Factor

Another key factor in Apple's surprising first quarter success was their ability to market and sell more devices in growing international markets, particularly Greater China, including Samsung's home country South Korea, where the iPhone is currently ahead of Samsung in smartphone sales.

In fact, 2015 marks the first time Apple has shipped more smartphones to China than any other smartphone manufacturer. Apple's newfound dominance in the Asian markets may prove to be the company's biggest accomplishment yet, as the high populations of those areas could facilitate the sale of literally a billion iPhones during the next decade.