US shoppers increasingly buying iPhones from carriers instead of Apple
A growing number of Americans are choosing to buy their iPhones from carrier outlets and websites, instead of directly from Apple's website and retail stores, recent research data indicates.
Between 2013 and 2015, the number of U.S. shoppers who bought through carriers rose from 65 percent to 76 percent, according to a Consumer Intelligence Research Partners report obtained by the Wall Street Journal. In the same timespan, Apple's share dropped from 16 percent to 11 percent.
The remaining 13 percent of 2015 iPhones were purchased through third-party retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Walmart.
Apple tends to make more profit selling through its own stores, where it can also exert more control over the shopping experience -- this includes selling people on first-party accessories, AppleCare, and/or the iPhone Upgrade Program. Perhaps more importantly for the company, shoppers in an Apple Store have less chance to compare competing smartphones.
All four major U.S. carriers, however, are now favoring monthly leases and installment plans, which can offer strong incentive to buy through them instead of Apple. They have a wider geographic reach as well, with many more retail outlets.
Carriers are even reportedly gaining ground with their share of iPad sales, which jumped from 6 percent in 2013 to 18 percent last year. Apple's share held firm at 23 percent, meaning that the carriers grew at the expense of other retailers.
The largest share of U.S. Macs -- 44 percent -- were bought through Apple, with Best Buy coming a distant second at 20 percent.
Between 2013 and 2015, the number of U.S. shoppers who bought through carriers rose from 65 percent to 76 percent, according to a Consumer Intelligence Research Partners report obtained by the Wall Street Journal. In the same timespan, Apple's share dropped from 16 percent to 11 percent.
The remaining 13 percent of 2015 iPhones were purchased through third-party retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Walmart.
Apple tends to make more profit selling through its own stores, where it can also exert more control over the shopping experience -- this includes selling people on first-party accessories, AppleCare, and/or the iPhone Upgrade Program. Perhaps more importantly for the company, shoppers in an Apple Store have less chance to compare competing smartphones.
All four major U.S. carriers, however, are now favoring monthly leases and installment plans, which can offer strong incentive to buy through them instead of Apple. They have a wider geographic reach as well, with many more retail outlets.
Carriers are even reportedly gaining ground with their share of iPad sales, which jumped from 6 percent in 2013 to 18 percent last year. Apple's share held firm at 23 percent, meaning that the carriers grew at the expense of other retailers.
The largest share of U.S. Macs -- 44 percent -- were bought through Apple, with Best Buy coming a distant second at 20 percent.
Comments
As soon as my current contract with them is up, I'll be upgrading via Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program. I'll NEVER buy a phone through a carrier again, even if it's a cheaper deal than Apple offers.
You have to earn my loyalty, and none of the carriers have ever done anything to try to do that; Apple has!
But an iPhone sale is an iPhone sale is an iPhone sale. Apple makes money no matter how you take it.
Also, if more iPhones are sold in carrier stores, this means fewer competing smartphones are being sold. So this means great news for Apple.
Apple has only increased the incentive to order/purchase directly from them over the years. There was a time that ordering from your carrier was the only way to get it and make sure something didn't get screwed up in the activation process. There was also recent times, where if you wanted to use NEXT or JUMP, you had to go through your carrier. All that has changed.
Between Apple's own upgrade plan and financing offers, as well as their much more stable online ordering platform for launches....there is absolutely no way more people are buying through carriers today than yesterday.
My mother bought a 128gb 6s from AT&T (and I was with her), and when they gave it to her the box was open and it was covered with greasy fingerprints. She hesitantly accepted it, but there was something very wrong with that phone, and they refused to replace it with a new non-defective one without charging her a "restocking fee," even though she told them that was illegal, and eventually even went beck to the store with a printout of the law prohibiting the practice. They were just horrible to her. And should they really be "restocking" a defective phone anyway? Eventually she was able to get the Apple store to replace it for her, and her new one is great, but I would definitely go well out of my way to never buy a phone directly from AT&T after that experience.
As for the Apple store, I bought four iPhone 6s' using the iPhone Upgrade Program when it first started. My only issue was with Apple's bank not wanting to let me buy more than two. It took awhile to get ironed out but ultimately through a lot of work by the Apple employees it worked. The Apple store is busy all the time for a reason, while Best Buy and Costco don't have many customers looking at Apple products because these stores rarely have sales people who care about selling Apple products, they sell other garbage to get in their quotas.
And people do like smaller phones. The one I'm working with right now is an old Moto E and that's a 4 1/2 inch. I've had a 3.2 inch before it is not the end of the world. It was actually quite handy as it disappeared in my pocket. Like I said before I'm no expert but I hate these analysts claiming that no one will buy a 4 inch phone because that simply is not true.
I bought my iPhone 6 from the carrier. I bought the 4S from Apple previoudly. Verizon had a sweet deal if I traded the 4S in.