CIRP Data Shows iPhone XR Most Popular Model

BY Evan Selleck

Published 24 Jan 2019

If you ask Apple, the company is doing just fine with iPhone sales — even if it does plan on having a relatively weak first fiscal quarter earnings report.

A lot of attention has been paid to the iPhone XR, the cheaper of all three new iPhone models. According to analysts and rumors, the XR hasn’t been doing too well. However, Apple does not share that sentiment. The company has already stated multiple times that the XR is doing quite well for itself, calling it “ridiculously popular”. Tim Cook has even gone on the record to say “Bologna on that” when asked if the iPhone XR is a failure.

Now, CIRP data is here to back up Apple’s statements.

“Since the first iPhone, Apple has offered upgraded storage as an option,”, said Mike Levin, CIRP Partner and Co-Founder. “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”

You can see how that shakes out visually in the graph below:

If you weren’t paying any attention to the naysayers, then this might not be too surprising. Apple is indeed expecting things to be a bit slower than it had initially anticipated with its first fiscal quarter, but that doesn’t mean the company isn’t still happy (as much as it can be) with how things are going.

Of course, Apple would also like to sell more iPhones. Can the company boost sales later this year? We’ll have to wait and see.

If you bought a new iPhone model, which one did you go with?

[via CIRP]