The installed base of Apple iPhones reached 181 million units in the U.S. during the fiscal quarter that ended on September 29, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. That is more than the 176 million reached in the quarter that ended in June. CIRP said that the installed base totaled 159 million units in the fiscal quarter that ended in September 2017.
The quarter that ended this September saw 3% relative growth to the quarter ending in June and 14% growth relative to the year-ago quarter. The same figures for this time last year were 4% and 17%, respectively, indicating that growth is slowing.
“The installed base of iPhone owners in he US is leveling off, and grows at a steady but historically slow rate,” CIRP Partner and Co-founder Josh Lowitz said in a press release. “This should not come as a surprise, as Apple captured a sizable and stable share of a smartphone market that definitely matured. And, 181 million active smartphones users give the company a significant platform for the emerging strategy of selling more to that installed base. This will include promoting two revenue segments that Apple breaks out, Services and Other Products, which Apple just renamed Wearables, Home, and Accessories.”
CIRT surveyed 500 customers who purchased an iPhone, iPad or Mac computer in the July through September period. They project that the newest iPhones (XS, XS Max, 8, 8 Plus and X) constitute an installed base of 45 million units, which is 25% of the U.S. installed base. The oldest models, which are the 6S, 6S Plus and earlier, comprise 41% — 75 million – of the installed U.S. base. Two million iPhone XS and XS Max models were sold in the last ten days of the quarter.
“Within the installed base, we see 75 million iPhone owners with models that were originally released three years ago or earlier,” CIRP Partner and Co-Founder Mike Levin said in the press release. “These phones reflect the huge impact of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which at the time represented the first new form factor in four years. . . Apple appears to want upgrades to iPhone XR, with a mass-appeal middle size and features that are similar to the newest XS and XS Max, but at the historic flagship price point. We can envision an upgrade cycle similar to the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, when more than half of the installed base upgraded within a year.”
In May, Strategy Analytics reported in its Smartphone Model Tracker that 345 million iPhone X units shipped worldwide, making it the best-selling smartphone during the first quarter of the year.
