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Apple says there are more than 900 million iPhones in the wild

It's the first time Apple has disclosed the number.

Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
Expertise Mobile, 5G, Big Tech, Social Media Credentials
  • SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
Roger Cheng
iphone-xr-1

There are a lot of iPhones out there. 

Angela Lang/CNET

Apple may not share how many iPhones it sells each quarter anymore. But it did offer a tantalizing tidbit as part of its latest earnings.

The consumer electronics giant has an active install base of more than 900 million iPhones, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestra said on a conference call with analysts on Tuesday. The number is up year over year, with 75 million units added to the total over the last 12 months, he said.

The number offers a little clarity on the health of Apple's iPhone business, which suffered a 15 percent decline in revenue in the fiscal first quarter. But be wary of these types of numbers: companies tend to cherrypick the statistics they share to put their business in the most favorable light. 

Maestra said Apple would share the active installed base figure "periodically."