technology

Apple set to buy a third of world’s gold for luxury Apple Watch

4 DAYS AGO FEBRUARY 26, 2015 11:14AM
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What Exactly Is an Apple Watch For?

APPLE is set to buy up one third of the world’s gold in order to meet the demands of the new up-market Apple Watch, according to reports.

Following the prediction in The Wall Street Journal that Apple plans to sell one million top-of-the-range 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition units a month, a new report reveals the massive impact that would have on the gold market and world economy.

The report in TidBits crunches the numbers working on the reasonable figure that each gold watch will contain 2 troy ounces (62.2 grams) of gold.

REPORT: Apple to sell 20 million Apple Watches a year

Blockbuster ... The Apple Watch is expected to sell a million 18-karat gold units a month. Source: Supplied

Famous friends ... Pop star Gwen Stefani attends an event for the launch of the Apple Watch. Source: Getty Images

Based on the estimated sales figure, that means Apple will need 746 tons of gold a year — which is about 30 per cent of the world’s annual production.

When you do the maths, that means Apple would be buying up nearly $30 billion in gold a year just for this one model of the Apple Watch — and that would impact on world gold prices and cause havoc with the world economy.

The author of the report admits it is an estimate and is based on the Wall Street Journal predictions, which are not official figures.

If the Wall Street Journal is right, however, then Apple is set to take over nearly half of the world’s luxury watch market.

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