Apple iPhone 15 cycle likely to be similar to 'S' year, Barclays says
Jozsef Zoltan Varga
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is slated to announce its newest iPhones tomorrow, but investment firm Barclays is expecting the latest smartphone to be similar to mid-cycle launches of years past.
"We expect the iPhone 15 cycle to be similar to an 'S' model year (average feature and performance increases with modest form factor changes)," analyst Tim Long wrote in an investor note.
Long, who has an equal-weight rating and $167 price target on Apple (AAPL), added that he expects the tech giant to further differentiate the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models from the base iPhone 15 models, with the exclusive features warranting a higher selling price.
He is also anticipating some headwinds, as the expected price increase for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max is coming at a time of an uncertain macro backdrop. As such, he believes Apple (AAPL) will tell its suppliers to build between 70M and 75M iPhones in the second-half of the calendar year, with potential downside coming from weaker demand supply shortages.
"We also maintain our expectation for [low-single-digit] growth for iPhone units for [fiscal 2024], due to easier compares, though unit risks remain," Long added.

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