The iPhone 5 is poised to become the fastest-selling gadget of all time, racking up sales of as much as 58 million units and $36.2 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
The prediction comes after other analysts had predicted sales of as much as 10 million units of the iPhone 5 this month. If the analysts' predictions prove correct, then the sales will eclipse that of Apple's fiscal first quarter -- the first quarter in which the iPhone 4S was available -- when the company sold 37 million iPhones.
The latest estimate appears to support the bullish prediction of FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger, who predicts Apple will 250 million iPhone 5 units over the device's lifetime. That amounts to $144 billion in revenues, or roughly three times all the revenues that Apple has made from the iPhone in its five-year history. Berger's predictions are based on the belief that new customers in China plus existing iPhone customers looking to upgrade will prompt a huge boost in sales.