Apple says it won’t disclose initial iPhone 7 sales figures

Apple, breaking with tradition, said it won’t provide opening weekend sales numbers for new iPhone launches.

The smartphone maker has sometimes shared early pre-order numbers and usually has announced how many iPhones were sold on the weekend after the device officially became available. The company said in a statement that it won’t continue the practice because it’s “now at a point where we know before taking the first customer pre-order that we will sell out of iPhone 7.”

By not releasing opening weekend sales numbers, Apple is holding back a key metric that some investors have used to determine the success of an iPhone launch. The world’s most valuable company is banking on the new lineup, in addition to new wireless AirPod headphones and water resistant Apple Watch models, to avoid a holiday quarter year-over-year sales drop.

Apple said that “initial sales will be governed by supply, not demand,” leading the company to determine that opening weekend numbers are “no longer a representative metric for our investors and customers.” Bloomberg