The iPhone continues to sell like hot cakes -- 74.5 million units in the second quarter of 2015 -- but the
Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves said on Wednesday that he's trimming his estimates for Apple Watch sales. For fiscal 2015, he's cutting sales to 10.5 million unit sales from 11 million. And for 2016 sales, Hargreaves cut his estimates from 24 million to 21 million.
"Anecdotal evidence suggests Apple Watch demand is slowing quickly," Hargreaves wrote in a research note to the brokerage firm's clients. He continued, "Reviews of the device have been mixed, the fashion angle appears to be leaning a bit too much toward 'calculator watch,' and general consumer interest as measured by search volume is below the iPod."
Other Wall Street analysts are also not so confident in Apple Watch sales. In May,
Apple hasn't yet disclosed any sales figures for the device.
Sales and early reviews of the Apple Watch indicate the watch has a while before it finds its footing.
Even so, Apple doesn't really need big Apple Watch sales numbers just quite yet with the iPhone accounting for nearly 70% of its revenue in the second quarter of this year. And iPhone sales are expected to keep growing strong. In the same Wednesday note to clients from Hargreaves, he bumped up his sales estimates for the iPhone -- by 3.1% to 236 million in 2015, and by 3.8% to 218 million in 2016.
But maturation of the iPhone market may be close at hand. Hargreaves wrote, "We believe the majority of people earnings $15,000 a year or more in the world will own an iPhone exiting fiscal 2015. Our and Street estimates anticipate further growth in the iPhone user base going forward, which creates risk if we reach the point of complete saturation or if a competitor slows Apple's share gains."
