Apple will keep sales figures of iPhones, iPads and Macs a secret from now on

From now on, Apple will keep secret how many deliveries there have been of iPhones, iPads and Macs. In doing so, it follows other manufacturers of smartphones, tablets and computers who often keep such figures to themselves.

Apple’s top executives say the exact numbers of deliveries of the devices are irrelevant to showing how the company is doing. Tim Cook compares it in an interview with analysts at the presentation of the quarterly figures with a visit to the supermarket. “This is a bit like going to the supermarket and you push your cart to the checkout and he or she asks: How many products do you have there? It doesn’t matter much if you want to know the value of what’s in your cart.”

Financial director Luca Maestri claims in the same interview that a few things have changed at Apple that make this step logical. “As we have shown in our financial presentations in recent years, the number of units delivered in any given 90-day period is not necessarily representative of the underlying strength of our business. In addition, a count of sales is less relevant now than before, due to the breadth of our portfolio and the greater spread in price in our product lines.”

With the move, it’s only possible to get an indication of how iPhones, iPads, and Macs are doing by looking at analyst estimates, who aren’t always right. Competitor Samsung stopped displaying exact deliveries seven years ago and other manufacturers have also stopped doing so.

Apple is making the move at a time when shipment growth across all product lines appears to be booming. For example, the number of iPhones delivered increased slightly in recent months compared to the same period last year, while deliveries of iPads and Macs decreased. The average selling price of iPhones did rise sharply, and so will Macs and iPads in the coming months; Apple announced a new and more expensive MacBook Air at an event last week, while the new iPad Pros also have significantly higher prices. The higher prices allow the manufacturer to maintain the growth in sales that it took out of the growth in sales until a few years ago. Now that growth comes from a higher average average selling price.