AAPL Stock Retreats From All-Time High: Research Firm Says Apple Could Sell 6M iPhone Duos This Year

• Counterpoint expects Apple to sell around 6 million foldable iPhones this year, with production capacity key to hitting the target.
• The iPhone 18 Pro lineup has seen stronger early sales in China.
• Apple Pay arrives in India.

Apple, Inc. (AAPL) could sell 6 million iPhone Duo units this year, Counterpoint Research expects, offering the first estimate for the new Apple device that fans are raving about.

Priced at $1,999 and slated to begin sales on Oct. 23, the iPhone Duo will be Apple’s flagship model, and the company is betting it can help drive broader consumer demand for foldable smartphones.

Early hands-on reviews have praised its thin design, near-invisible crease, polished software and large inner display, while analysts see it as a significant new chapter for the iPhone. 

Introduced alongside the Duo this month, Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro family has gotten off to a fast start in China, Counterpoint said. The Pro models were released for the first time without a corresponding base-model upgrade, steering consumers toward the pricier models and helping deliver a 12% rise compared to the iPhone 17 Pro’s initial sales, Bloomberg reported. 

Apple hitting the 6 million iPhone Duo sales target is contingent on how well the company ramps up production, Counterpoint senior analyst Ivan Lam told the news agency.

AAPL Builds Momentum After iPhone Duo Launch, John Ternus Taking Reins

AAPL shares have risen since the Sept. 9 launch of the new iPhones and hit an all-time high last week. The stock has dipped 3.4% this week amid a broader market selloff linked to the U.S.-Iran war.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for AAPL has oscillated between ‘bearish’ and ‘neutral’ since the start of the month, although message volume has remained ‘flat’ and only 0.5% more traders have added AAPL to their watchlists.

Traders are also closely watching Apple’s moves under new CEO John Ternus, alongside the rapid rise of AI agents from major tech players and their potential impact on the broader AI-driven consumer tech landscape.

Bank of America analysts said this week that concerns around Meta Platforms’ (META) Muse AI agent are overdone even as it acknowledged a new risk to Apple’s role in how consumers discover products and start transactions.

BofA said that with Muse, Meta is now where a growing number of iPhone owners express intent first. “The risk for Apple is that it can keep every handset sale and still lose discovery, referral, and transaction initiation,” the analysts said in a research note.

Apple Pay Launches In India

Meanwhile, the company announced late Tuesday that it launched Apple Pay in India. Apple has partnered with Axis Bank, the country’s third-largest private-sector lender, for the service, and the rollout is limited initially.

Apple Pay is currently available across over 90 markets. Apple does not report Apple Pay revenue separately, but the service is of strategic value. 

By making the iPhone, Apple Watch and Wallet a convenient payment hub, Apple Pay deepens daily engagement with Apple devices, increases switching costs and gives Apple another reason for users to remain within its ecosystem. 

AAPL shares are up 21.5% year to date, the second-best performance among the "Magnificent Seven” stocks after Nvidia’s.

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