Apple iPhone 4S and Apple iPhone 4 both continue to perform strongly this holiday season

According to "channel checks" performed by analyst  Michael Walkley of Canaccord Genuity, the Apple iPhone 5 is selling strongly. At the three major U.S. carriers that offer the phone, Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, the 6th generation iPhone is the top selling smartphone. But Walkley has discovered strong demand for both the Apple iPhone 4S and the Apple iPhone 4. The latter model, offered free by some carriers with a signed two-year contract, is sold-out at some locations.

These three handsets are still all hot sellers

Apple has been able to get the magical Foxconn elves to push out more handsets, which is why the Cupertino based tech giant is able to start selling its iconic smartphone in 50 more countries this month as we told you Monday morning. Walkley forecasts sales of 47.5 million units of the Apple iPhone in the current quarter which would be a gain of 77% sequentially from the third quarter. He expects the latest iteration of the phone to help Apple achieve gross profit margins of 38.7% in the current three month period.

The Canaccord Genuity analyst says that by the end of the year, the Apple iPhone 5 will have been launched in 100 countries with 240 carriers. Considering how strongly the Apple iPhone 4S and the Apple iPhone 4 are still selling, Walkley says that we are in the beginning of a "strong multi-year product cycle" for the Apple iPhone 5.

In the meantime, the analyst reiterated his buy signal on Apple's shares, with a price target of $800. That would be a 36% move from the stock's current price of $590.