Apple’s iPhone 12 dominates U.S. sales; diminutive iPhone 12 mini least popular

Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) has released an analysis of the results from its research on smartphones for the period following launch of the new iPhone 12 family: iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

CIRP finds that the new iPhone 12 models accounted for 76% of U.S. iPhone sales in the period after their launch. The iPhone 12 had the largest share for a single model, at 27%.

“iPhone 12 models garnered a significant share at launch, but with mixed results, as iPhone 12 mini seems to have been lost among the other models,” says Josh Lowitz, CIRP partner and co-founder, in a statement. “Apple not only launched a wider range of new models than ever before, and also divided that launch into two pairs of models, so comparison to earlier launches is tricky. In addition, Apple launched a new iPhone SE earlier in the year, further complicating the lineup. Compared to last year’s launch of iPhone 11 models, which accounted for 69% of sales in the period after the launch, the four iPhone 12 models did even better, with 76% of sales. However, there was no clear leader among the new models, with sales evenly distributed among iPhone 12, 12 Pro, and 12 Max. In contrast, in 2019, iPhone 11 had an incredible 39% of sales, with iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max combining for only 30% of sales.”

“The new iPhone mini likely disappointed Apple with only 6% of sales in the period,” adds Mike Levin, CIRP partner and co-founder, in a statement. “It has most of the same features as the other iPhone 12 models, in a smaller form factor for $699. Its share was just above that of iPhone XR, launched in 2018 and now priced at $499, the one-year old iPhone 11, now selling for $599, and the 2nd generation iPhone SE, launched in April 2020 at $399. It seems that it’s higher price point compared to those three models limited the iPhone 12 mini appeal.”

CIRP bases its findings on its survey of 243 US Apple customers that purchased an iPhone in the four weeks following the launch of iPhone 12 Pro Max and 12 mini models on November 13, 2020, which was weeks three through six of availability for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro.

MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote back in November, “Bigger is better, especially for people who use iPhone as their main device, have older eyes, need a long-lasting battery, want the best camera system, etc. – that’s why the iPhone 12 Pro Max is more in demand versus the iPhone 12 mini.”