Strong iPhone XR sales highlight Apple's need for a low-cost iPhone SE 2

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Ask the average tech consumer which iPhone they think was the best seller over the past few months and odds are, they’ll say the iPhone 11. That’d be a solid selection considering how heavily Apple and carrier partners marketed the latest generation handset in recent months but surprisingly, it wasn’t the best-selling iPhone during the quarter.

According to Counterpoint Research’s Market Pulse, the iPhone XR was the best-selling model globally in the third quarter based on market share as it managed to capture a three percent stake. That’s impressive considering the XR launched way back in October 2018 and it wasn’t even the flagship model at the time.

So, what’s happening here?

Well, part of it is just that – the fact that the iPhone XR isn’t a flagship but rather, a budget model. Apple elected to keep the XR around for another year when introducing the latest iPhone 11 models, lowered its price (it now starts at $599) and started selling it in more regions including India.

The data illustrates the fact that not everyone is interested in $1,000+ flagship phones. Furthermore, it’s probably even more evidence that a new iPhone SE 2 could do really well at the lower end of the pricing scale. Last we heard, this budget iPhone could arrive as early as the first quarter of 2020.

Masthead credit: iPhone XR phones by Hadrian

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https://www.techspot.com/news/83337-strong-iphone-xr-sales-highlight-apple-need-low.html

 

[Peter Farkas]

Yep, we need a real budget model. Though the XR is the cheapest from the new generation models, it is still far from being a budget option in my opinion.
Time for a $300 SE2!

 

[QuantumPhysics]

It's not easy making "budget phones" when your flagships have such advanced technology in them.

 

[Adi6293]

It's not easy making "budget phones" when your flagships have such advanced technology in them.

Its actually quite easly, Apple just needs to drop their margins and any of their phones could be seen as "budget"

 

[Cubi Dorf]

It is seem apple would rather do used phones more like automobile market. They are probably replacing some external part makes them look like new and new battery, but the soc and camera has been used. it is be better for environment to reuse rather than produce cheap device. 3 year old flagship is still quite good.

 

[bexwhitt]

It's not easy making "budget phones" when your flagships have such advanced technology in them.

Apart for the SOC which they manage to use in their $320 ipad (just an older version) there is nothing special in an Iphone that could easily make a $300 phone they would just have to trim their margins.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Apart for the SOC which they manage to use in their $320 ipad (just an older version) there is nothing special in an Iphone that could easily make a $300 phone they would just have to trim their margins.

Why make it more affordable?

Maybe they don't want the extra influx of users switching over from cheap Android phones to the Apple ecosystem.

I have to assume they know what they're doing - what with their Trillion Dollar+ valuation.

They've cornered the market on profit and their devices - regardless what the haters think - are exclusive and more desirable than virtually anything on the Android market.

It would be like Mercedes making cars cheaper to suck in more customers. Sure they went downmarket but even their cheapest car is still over $40,000 and offers less than "cheaper brands" for the same price.

 

[bviktor]

My biggest complaint is the friggin' Lightning port. I hate the fact that I have to carry USB-C chargers, Lightning chargers, and of course an Apple Watch charger, coz why on Earth would they work with regular Qi chargers, right? Just stop it already.

 

[bexwhitt]

Why make it more affordable?

Maybe they don't want the extra influx of users switching over from cheap Android phones to the Apple ecosystem.

I have to assume they know what they're doing - what with their Trillion Dollar+ valuation.

They've cornered the market on profit and their devices - regardless what the haters think - are exclusive and more desirable than virtually anything on the Android market.

It would be like Mercedes making cars cheaper to suck in more customers. Sure they went downmarket but even their cheapest car is still over $40,000 and offers less than "cheaper brands" for the same price.

I'm not saying they would do it as it cheapens the brand and would take sales from their silly priced phones. It would bring in new users and as software (app sales) is where the money is it would contract hardware sales bottoming out as it has. My comment really was a response to the advanced technology BS, the SOC is top of the field (at the moment) the rest of the stuff is just parts from other companies.