Apple Inc’s first batch of 5G-enabled iPhones will “open up the floodgates” on device upgrades, Wedbush Securities Inc. predicted, awarding the company’s stock with a new Street-high price target. Shares of Apple rose as much as 1.1 per cent and we're on track for a record-high close. About 350 million iPhones within the Cupertino, California-based company’s 900 million installed user base are currently in the window of an upgrade opportunity, analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note to clients on Monday. Apple’s first 5G-enabled phones are expected to be released in September. The analyst reiterated his outperform rating while lifting his price target to $350 a share from $325, the highest among 49 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg and indicating a 25 per cent upside from Friday’s closing price. 2019 has been Tim Cook’s “finest hour,” Ives wrote, praising the chief executive’s navigation of China growth struggles while settling the firm’s long-standing lawsuit with Qualcomm Inc and bringing to market the iPhone 11. The “historic” year will serve as a launch pad for 2020 to be the “year of an iPhone supercycle,” he added.
