Apple's Dec. Quarter To Benefit From Calendar Shift, Says RBC

Apple Inc.'s iPhone unit shipments will be boosted in the December quarter by a calendar shift, that should add 2 to 2.5 million units to the total, RBC Capital Markets said Friday. Apple will have just two days of iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus land in the September quarter, which ends on September 26, down from nine days a year ago. "This will essentially drive in an extra week of high unit sales in the Dec-quarter this year," analysts wrote in a note. "At minimum given the extended lead-times for 6S Plus, this should add 2-2.5 million incremental units in Dec-quarter ($1.5-2.0 billion revenue)." That should allay investor fears that Decemeber would be a no-growth quarter for the iPhone, said the note. Apple shares were down 0.7% in premarket trading, but are up 3% in the year so far, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 6.4%.