Apple says to conceal first weekend iPhone 7 sales

By Barry Eitel

SAN FRANCISCO (AA) – Apple will not reveal sales figures for its new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus for the first weekend the devices are available, the company announced Thursday in a break from its longstanding tradition.

“As we have expanded our distribution through carriers and resellers to hundreds of thousands of locations around the world, we are now at a point where we know before taking the first customer pre-order that we will sell out of iPhone 7,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said in a statement. “These initial sales will be governed by supply, not demand, and we have decided that it is no longer a representative metric for our investors and customers.”

But by keeping the information secret, investors worry the company may be hiding evidence the global market for iPhones, Apple’s flagship device, has peaked.

Apple’s stock fell nearly 3 percent to $105.52 amid the news after closing Wednesday at $108.36 per share.

The new device, revealed at a keynote address in San Francisco by CEO Tim Cook, is water resistant and, unlike every other iPhone ever released, ditches the audio input jack, illustrating that the company is attempting to get the world to adopt wireless headphones.

The new iPhones go on sale Sept. 16 in 28 countries, with the company taking pre-orders beginning Friday.

By not releasing the figures Apple will now have to find a new way to duplicate the important quasi-Christmas holiday atmosphere the company has created around its product releases.

While iPhone fanatics are sure to line up outside Apple Stores next week and the company will likely move millions of smartphones across the planet, the policy change hints that iPhone sales are declining – a fact the company revealed in an earnings report this year.