Strong sales of iPhone 4S a precursor to 'monster' launch of redesigned 'iPhone 5'

The well-known Piper Jaffray analyst, Gene Munster, sent a note to investors on Wednesday where he increased his expectations related to the iPhone sales over the holiday quarter up to 30 million units. But the record sales aren’t the thing that really deserves attention.   Instead, Munster 's looking toward the future, with a next-generation redesigned iPhone, which he believes is going to accelerate Apple's growth even further than the current iPhone 4S.

"If Apple sells 30 (million)-plus iPhones in Dec., with no new form factor, up from 17.1m in Sept., it would be evidence supporting our survey work indicating that 94% of iPhone users plan to upgrade to a new iPhone," Munster wrote. "This theme suggests iPhone 5, which we are expecting in Aug. with a new form factor, will be a monster upgrade."

Apple will announce its financial results for the forth quarter of 2011 on Tuesday, Jan. 24. As for the iPad, Munster sees Apple’s tablet taking up 21 percent of Apple's total sales, with 13.5 million units sold in the quarter. He also believes that Apple will launch a third-generation iPad in April. Munster has forecast the Mac will account for 17 percent of Apple's sales in the December quarter that is equal to 5.2 million units sold in the quarter. Munster believes that Apple's revenue for the December quarter will be $40.19 billion.