iPhone 5S Continues Strongly

CIRP bases its findings on its survey of 500 US Apple customers that purchased an iPhone, iPad or Mac in the US in October-December 2013. The iPhone 5S clearly excelled, selling almost three out of five iPhones in the most recent quarter.
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Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) released analysis of the results from its research on Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) for the calendar quarter that ended December 31, 2013. This analysis features findings about consumer trends for the first full quarter of US sales of the new iPhone 5S and 5C models, which launched in September 2013.

CIRP compared the launch of the iPhone 5S and 5C models to the launch of the iPhone 5 in September 2012, and finds that the iPhone 5S took a greater share of total sales in the full quarter relative to the iPhone 5 in its first full quarter.

The flagship iPhone 5S accounted for 59 percent of total iPhone sales in the quarter, compared to 50 percent for the iPhone 5 in the October-December 2012 quarter. Also, the iPhone 5C accounted for 27 percent of total iPhone sales, with the legacy iPhone 4S accounting for the balance, at 14 percent of total iPhone sales (see chart).

Share of Total iPhone Sales by Model
2014-01-15-chart.jpg

CIRP bases its findings on its survey of 500 US Apple customers that purchased an iPhone, iPad or Mac in the US in October-December 2013. The iPhone 5S clearly excelled, selling almost three out of five iPhones in the most recent quarter. The other iPhone models clearly helped, with the brightly-colored 5C targeting a narrower customer base than prior mid-priced iPhones, and the two year-old 4S showing its age.

The mid-priced iPhone 5C accounted for 27 percent of iPhone sales in the quarter, compared to 32 percent of sales for the then-mid-priced iPhone 4S in the year-ago quarter. The legacy iPhone 4S accounted for 14 percent of iPhone sales in the quarter, compared to 18 percent for the similar iPhone 4 in the year-ago quarter.

The iPhone 5S appeared to take share from both the mid-priced iPhone 5C and legacy iPhone 4S. In contrast, after the iPhone 5 launched a year ago, the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 continued to sell strongly for many months. In the most recent quarter we also saw models with larger storage capacities sell better than before. We would expect the average selling price for iPhones to increase accordingly.

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