Katy Huberty, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, has reported that after meeting with key Apple suppliers in Asia, demand for the iPhone 5 and iPad mini were even higher than predicted before. Huberty reported that Wall Street expects Apple to sell 46 million iPhones and 23 million iPads in their December quarter, though she thinks they will sell more. She also expects Apple to beat Wall Street’s expectations for their March quarter where Apple is expected to sell 43 million iPhones and 19 million iPads.
Suppliers also told Huberty that rising demands for Apple products have caused the demand for PCs to go way down, despite the hyped release of Windows 8. Suppliers are also expecting both the iPad mini and iPhone 5 to be major hits in China once released. The Chinese government is expected to start working with mobile companies to offer LTE in the second half of 2013, the same time that Apple and China Mobile are expected to start working with each other. China Mobile is currently the world’s largest cell phone carrier.
Huberty also commented on Apple’s recent supply issues, which are reportedly getting better. She has stated that Apple is no longer having issues producing new in-cell touchscreen panels that they use in the iPhone 5.
