Sales of Apple’s iPhone XR might not have been what the company was hoping, but sales were still high enough during the holiday quarter to make it the best selling iPhone in the U.S. This is according to data shared on Thursday by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.
The iPhone XR accounted for 39 percent of sales during Apple’s first fiscal quarter 2019, which equates to the fourth calendar quarter of 2018. The iPhone XS and XS Max, meanwhile, accounted for 26 percent of iPhone sales.
Combined, the trio accounted for 65% of all holiday quarter iPhone sales, compare that to a year ago, when the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X accounted for 61% of all U.S. iPhone sales.
CIRP says sales of the iPhone XR nearly matched the combined sales of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus during the same period last year. It was the largest quarterly share for a single iPhone model since the iPhone 7.
iPhone buyers during the holiday season also opted for more storage in their devices than they did one year before.
“For many years each additional storage level carried a $100 premium. Now iPhone prices increase from $50 to $200 for incremental storage, depending on the phone model and the size of the boost in storage. The percentage of iPhone buyers who paid up for increased storage grew to 38% this quarter from 33% in the year ago quarter. Based on the elevated pricing associated with larger storage, as well as the model mix sold in the quarter, we estimate Apple increased its ASP to well over $800.”
Most reported numbers indicate that while the iPhone XR sold well, the numbers were disappointing when compared to the sales numbers Apple had been expecting. The Cupertino firm recently cut its earnings guidance for the first fiscal quarter of 2019, due to weaker than expected iPhone sales. The firm has reportedly cut production of the iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max lineups for the first calendar quarter of 2019.
The data used by CIRP was gathered from a survey of 500 U.S. Apple customers that purchased and iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch during the October – December 2018 timespan.
