Boeing 767-300 Freighter can hold a maximum payload of approximately 52.7 tons (116,200 pounds). It has a total cargo volume of about 15,469 cubic feet. That’s a lot of iPhones.
231 million iPhones were sold in 2023. They weigh about 6 ounces but round up to 10 to account for packaging. Assume that 10% of those were sold at launch. That’s 719 tons or 13 767-300 jets.
Obviously the vast majority are shipped by sea, but to handle the initial wave, they ship air.
Edit: obviously, most of those phones aren’t going to the US, but it’s still at least a few planes full.
Well an average smaller Apple Store has about $1.6 million dollars of just iPhones in inventory on a launch day and that’s just maybe 15-20 cubic feet densely packed.
Oh wait my hasty math was bad on the volume, closer to 150-200 cubic feet, allowing for the fact they are shipped in plastic totes that reduce the packing density.
Boeing 767-300 Freighter can hold a maximum payload of approximately 52.7 tons (116,200 pounds). It has a total cargo volume of about 15,469 cubic feet. That’s a lot of iPhones.
231 million iPhones were sold in 2023. They weigh about 6 ounces but round up to 10 to account for packaging. Assume that 10% of those were sold at launch. That’s 719 tons or 13 767-300 jets.
Obviously the vast majority are shipped by sea, but to handle the initial wave, they ship air.
Edit: obviously, most of those phones aren’t going to the US, but it’s still at least a few planes full.
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/apple-statistics/
Well an average smaller Apple Store has about $1.6 million dollars of just iPhones in inventory on a launch day and that’s just maybe 15-20 cubic feet densely packed.
Oh wait my hasty math was bad on the volume, closer to 150-200 cubic feet, allowing for the fact they are shipped in plastic totes that reduce the packing density.