Apple is planning a massive initial run of 5 million Apple Watches
The Cupertino company has apparently ordered between 5 and 6 million units of its forthcoming smart watch from its Asian suppliers for its first quarter on sale. The $349 budget Apple Watch Sport will reportedly account for half of these - around 2.5 million, with the standard Apple Watch making up "one-third of output" - roughly 1.6 million. This suggests the last 0.9 million will be the most expensive 18K gold Apple Watch Edition.
It's an extremely ambitious goal for the wearables market. As TechCrunch notes, just 720,000 Android Wear devices were sold in 2014. Apple intends to surpass this with its high-end gold Apple Watches alone.
Prices for the Apple Watch Edition aren't confirmed yet, but rumours peg the price point at somewhere between $1,200 and $5,000. The WSJ believes it'll be more than $4,000 - making it "among the most expensive products the company has ever sold."
The Wall Street Journal reports that around 11.8 million Apple Watches are expected to ship in 2015, according to ABI Research.
Despite the price, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak doesn't think Apple will struggle to shift the units. He says it's a "little piece of art," and that "million of people will buy this watch right from the start."