iPhone 12 Pro and services may lead Apple to a stellar December quarter

As reported by AppleInsider, Morgan Stanley believes that the iPhone 12 Pro and Apple's services business is pointing to a strong December quarter for the company. Lead analyst Katy Huberty has written an investor note seen by the outlet that supports the investment bank's predictions for the quarter.

Huberty now estimates that the App Store's revenue may grow 31% YoY to $5.3 billion.

The analyst estimates that the App Store's net revenue grew 31% year-over-year in the December quarter to $5.3 billion. That's about the same as growth during the September quarter and is 350 basis points ahead of Huberty's own 27.5% year-over-year quarterly forecast.

The analyst says that the latest data available from the App Store could indicate quarterly services revenue of almost $15 billion for the company.

"If we keep the rest of our December quarter Apple Services forecast unchanged, the latest App Store data would imply December quarter Services revenue of $14.84B (+16.7% Y/Y), $170M or 130bps ahead of our $14.67B estimate (+15.4%), and 40bps ahead of consensus at $14.78B (+16.2%)."

Lead times of the iPhone 12 Pro continue to indicate the phone is overperforming expectations and could contribute to a strong quarter for Apple.

As of Jan. 5, 2021, iPhone 12 Pro lead times remained at three weeks. At this point in all prior iPhone cycles in the past four years, lead times clocked in at one day. Lead times for the iPhone 12 Pro Max also stayed elongated at 4.4 days, the second longest among iPhone models.

Apple will announce its 2021 Q1 financial results on January 27, 2021.