Apple has sold a billion iPhones, enough for every seventh person on the planet.
It’s an extraordinary milestone. As Recode notes, only very few tech categories – TVs and PCs, for example – have reached that figure, let alone individual products.
What makes the achievement even more remarkable is that iPhones really don’t come cheap. Even the iPhone SE, the latest “budget” version, will set you back £359. A 128GB 6s Plus costs £789.
The news comes after Apple announced earlier in the week that iPhone sales had fallen for the second consecutive quarter.
Sales fell by 15%, but the tech giant still shipped more units than analysts had predicted. It sold 40.4 million iPhones in its third quarter, against a forecast of 40.02 million.
It blamed the fall on customers waiting longer to upgrade and the economic slowdown in China, which accounts for more than a quarter of the company’s sales.
In a statement announcing the news of its billionth sale, Apple CEO Tim Cook said:
“iPhone has become one of the most important, world-changing and successful products in history. It’s become more than a constant companion. iPhone is truly an essential part of our daily life and enables much of what we do throughout the day. Last week we passed another major milestone when we sold the billionth iPhone. We never set out to make the most, but we’ve always set out to make the best products that make a difference. Thank you to everyone at Apple for helping change the world every day.”
