Bottom line: Fiscal Q3 2019 for Apple's iPhone reveals some rather unsurprising figures. A majority of users (48 percent) who bought the latest XR, along with 33 percent of people who bought previous iPhone models, refuse to be on-board with the idea of $1,000 flagships, even though they feature the best of what Apple has to offer with a better OLED display and camera systems. The cheaper XR, though, also has a few things going for it: a better battery life---one of the most requested features among potential buyers---more color options and of course, a cheaper price tag.
According to data released by the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), the latest generation of iPhones (XS, XS Max and XR) accounted for 67 percent of all sales made in the US during the fiscal Q3 2019.
From the entire iPhone line-up for sale from the 7 to the XS Max, 48 percent of consumers went for the iPhone XR, showing that the cheapest new iPhone is the most preferred model among buyers. Apple has always priced its iPhone models at the higher end and succeeded but now it seems even loyal fans are finding it difficult to shell out $1,000 or more for the XS/XS Max.
"iPhone XR has become the dominant iPhone model," said CIRP's partner and co-founder Josh Lowitz. The affordable model has also gotten the highest share in sales since the iPhone 6 back in 2015, although at that time, the company only had two outdated legacy models as alternatives, compared to four models (the X being discontinued) in its fiscal Q3 for 2019. Interestingly, the chart for Q3 2019 also reveals the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus edging out both the latest XS and XS Max.
Commenting further on the XR's placement in the iPhone line-up, Josh said: "Apple set out to create a competitive model, with current features like a large screen on a midsize handset, at a price that falls near the leading Android phones. It is an easy to choose the mid-point between the expensive XS and XS Max models, and the older 7 and 8 models."
In terms of "Services Penetration" among the iPhone buyers for fiscal Q3 2019, paid iCloud leads the way with 47 percent users, given that additional cloud storage is more or less a necessity these days, with the default 5GB free offer not cutting it anymore. Apple Music subscription was chosen by 35 percent of the buyers with Apple podcasts seeing usage between 25-30 percent. The lowest penetration was for the AppleCare program that saw a 6 percent adoption among iPad and less than 5 percent adoption among iPhone buyers.