Apple Plans to Sell 25 Million iPhone 5′s

Rumors of a new iPhone are heating up. Not that the thought of Apple releasing the iPhone 5 this fall should be surprising. If anything, the big surprise would be if it didn’t. But the numbers bandied — 25 million by the end of 2011.Apple is asking suppliers to assemble by year’s end 25 million units of its next iPhone, possibly the long-rumored iPhone 5 or the iPhone 4-something-or-other, The Wall Street Journal is reporting today.

Though the Journal’s sources didn’t say why the device might be hard to build, it could have something to do with its reported design. According to the Journal, the device will be both “thinner and lighter” than Apple’s iPhone 4. In addition, it will come with an 8-megapixel camera, the publication’s sources said.

Last year, Apple introduced the iPhone 4, which had features that drove a strong consumer response, keeping the 3GS as the new low-price version. By 2011 Q1, Apple was selling iPhones to Verizon (VZ) customers as well as those of AT&T (T), expanding the domestic market.Another report last month from Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore claimed Apple will be offering both an updated iPhone 4 and an iPhone 5 this year.

Apple will likely make the iPhone 4 the new lower cost model, if not create a three-tier choice, with the 3GS remaining at $49 (or perhaps lower) and the 4 at maybe a $99 price point. A strict extrapolation of sales wouldn’t be just for the iPhone 5. However, by the time Apple releases the new model, holiday shopping will likely be in full swing and the company won’t want to run out of the new models. So, 25 million is hardly an extravagant manufacturing run. If the combination of new features and previous iPhone owners now waiting for an upgrade (their two-year mark having been up in June or July) does well, then the quarter the 5 is available, we might see Apple’s total quarterly unit sales hit 28 million or possibly more.