Apple (AAPL) shipped 31.2 million iPhones during the second quarter. Without any context that might not mean anything. So let's give it some context. That's 342,000 phones per day and more than 14,000 every hour. What is even more remarkable is that Apple stock has gone from $700 to $400 because the company has been muddling through a gap in new product introductions.
Lots of people believe Samsung has stolen their smartphone thunder with the Galaxy S3 and S4. Some industry pundits have left them for dead, citing the typical cyclical nature of popular consumer electronic brands. While we won't know what Apple is working on exactly until after they launch new products later this year and next, this company clearly has not been passed by. Companies don't ship 14,000 phones every hour, every day, for three months straight, if they are in a death spiral.
If Apple can use the money they make on all of these phones and churn out impressive new products, the naysayers (even with the stock down around $400 per share) will likely be proven very, very wrong. That is the bet I am making with my clients' money as well as my own.
Full Disclosure: Long Apple at the time of writing, but positions may change at any time.