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Apple Confirms It Has Now Sold One Billion iPhones

This article is more than 7 years old.

Apple's iPhone business is in trouble. On Tuesday, Apple reported a 15% drop in iPhone sales -- its second ever drop since the product launched in 2007. But that's not stopping it from reaching a major milestone. At an employee meeting on Wednesday morning, Apple confirmed it had recently sold its billionth iPhone.

"iPhone has become one of the most important, world-changing and successful products in history," said Apple CEO Tim Cook at the meeting. "It's become more than a constant companion. iPhone is truly an essential part of our daily life and enables much of what we do throughout the day. Last week we passed another major milestone when we sold the billionth iPhone. We never set out to make the most, but we’ve always set out to make the best products that make a difference. Thank you to everyone at Apple for helping change the world every day."

Many suspected earlier this week that Apple had hit this mark and would announce the moment on its third quarter earnings call on Tuesday. Instead, Apple opted to focus on the growth of its services revenue during earnings. Apple said its services business -- which includes Apple Music, the App Store, iTunes and iCloud -- grew 19% year-over-year and pulled in $6 billion in quarterly revenue.

Rumors about the next generation iPhone (likely called the iPhone 7) have begun circulating and it will likely launch this September, consistent with Apple’s historical launch timeline. Based on reports, the new phone won’t be a huge jump in design, but will include a duel camera option for improved photography and, perhaps most controversially, no headphone jack. No matter what, it will be hard to replicate the kind of sales boom Apple enjoyed with the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in late 2014.

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