CIRP: US buyers bought more expensive iPhones, traded in their old ones earlier last quarter
CIRP surveyed 500 US customers who bought an iPhone, iPad, Mac or an Apple Watch in the April-June quarter of this year. And what the researchers found is that Apple customers are spending more money than in previous quarters.
While the general trend in the industry (and for iPhones too, until now) is for the upgrade cycle to grow, US buyers were trading in newer iPhones than before. CIRP notes that the number older models (3 years and older) was smaller and that they were being replaced by more expensive models, for the first time in many quarters.
During the 12 month period ending in June this year 37% of buyers held on to their previous phones for 2 years or less, 30% for 3 years or longer. For comparison, the stats for the 12 month period ending in March show that 35% of owners upgraded after 2 years or less and 34% waited 3 years or more.
Apple no longer reports an average selling price, instead it focuses on a “US weighted retail average price” (US-WARP). CIRP estimates that this number has gone up during this quarter as buyers pick higher end models.
Most sales in the US were from the current iPhone 12 series, 63% in total. During the same period last year the iPhone 11 series made up 65% of sales. Indeed, the iPhone 11 matched the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the two best-selling models for the quarter at 23% market share each. The iPhone 12 mini also matched an older model, but this time the stats cast a negative light – it had an equal share, 5%, as the iPhone XR from 2018, both sharing the last spot in the charts.
As more people picked the iPhone 12 Pro Max as their next phone, the US-WARP rose to $869 in the April-June quarter, “considerably higher” than the same period last year, according to the analysts.
Another positive trend is that Apple recorded a significant increase in sales through its own retail operations (both online and brick and mortar stores), while Best Buy and carriers sold fewer units. Most iPhones (66% as of June 2021) are still sold through carriers, though.
