Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), today released analysis of the results from its research on Apple for calendar first quarter 2020 that ended March 29, 2020. CIRP finds that Apple’s new iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max models accounted for 66% of US iPhone sales during Q120. iPhone 11 alone accounted for 37% of US iPhone sales during the quarter.
iPhone Models US Sales Mix, Q119 vs. Q120
“iPhone 11 is the dominant model in the lineup,” said Josh Lowitz, CIRP Partner and Co-Founder, in a statement. “Not surprisingly, it took the place of last year’s iPhone XR as the most popular phone. The more expensive iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max together improved share, relative to the similar top-of-the-line iPhone XS and XS Max a year ago. Notably, the oldest and lowest-priced iPhone 8 and 8 Plus had a relatively small 13% share of sales, weaker than the phones in the same positions last year. The release of the new price leader iPhone SE and likely retirement of the 8 and 8 Plus should alter the sales mix and put even further emphasis on newly released models in the upcoming quarter.”
Among buyers who remained with iOS, a high percentage, CIRP estimates the age of the previous phone had increased significantly in the past four year.
Age of Previous iPhone (trailing 12-month buyers) March 2016 – March 2020
“We see clearly how iPhone owners now keep their phones for increasingly longer time,” said Mike Levin, CIRP Partner and Co-Founder. “In the most recent quarter, 28% of buyers kept their old phone for three years or more, compared to only 12% four years ago. A steady high single-digit percentage of iPhone buyers upgrade their phones each year. So, the good news for Apple is, consumers increasingly buy mostly the newest, more expensive phones. But, they now keep those phones for a much longer time, well past the typical two years from a few years ago. This slows the upgrade cycle and reducing unit demand in a saturated market.”
CIRP bases its findings on its survey of 500 US Apple customers that purchased an iPhone, iPad, Mac computer, or Apple Watch in the January-March 2020 period.
MacDailyNews Take: These charts are a nice way to see the lengthening of the iPhone replacement cycle over the years as well the mix. The strength of the iPhone 11 Pro Max is also evident, which may be surprising to some, but people like large displays and long battery life. It will be very, very interesting to see what the new iPhone SE combined with the economic effects of the coronavirus have on iPhone mix, not to mention the expected advent of 5G iPhones later this year!
Just ordered a series 5 watch for my daughter who is home alone with her 4 year old while her husband in in Guam building tent hospitals for a month. She has had a couple blackouts so wanted to get her this with fall detection. It will take 1.5 months to receive it. By then her husband will be home, so this month if she falls it might be deadly. I can’t believe it. Major fucking Apple fail here.
Might there be a connection between the need for tent hospitals and disruptions to global supply chains?