iPhone 5s takes 64% of Apple's smartphone sales, 5c with 27%, survey finds

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
The newly released iPhone 5s is outselling its 2013 counterpart, the iPhone 5c, by a factor of more than two to one, though the iPhone 5c has carved out a respectable share of overall sales, according to new data.

iPhone 5s


Consumer Intelligence Research Partners polled customers on sales of both the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in late September, after both devices went on sale. According to their latest figures provided to AllThingsD, 64 percent of iPhone buyers who bought in late September opted for the new flagship iPhone 5s.

The iPhone 5c, which was release the same day is is the company's new mid-tier handset, accounted for 27 percent of sales during that time period, according to CIRP. The legacy iPhone 4S, a handset first released in 2011 and now available free on contract, represented the remaining 9 percent of sales.

The new data also suggests that the iPhone 5c is not carving out a larger share of overall iPhone sales than the iPhone 4S managed last year, when it was the company's $100-on-contract handset.

With the iPhone 5c taking 27 percent this year, it's just slightly ahead of the 23 percent share the iPhone 4S captured during the same period in 2012, just after the launch of the iPhone 5.

iPhone


This marks the first year that Apple has launched two new iPhone models at the same time. While the iPhone 5s represents the company's latest premium device, with a new Touch ID fingerprint sensor and faster A7 chip, the iPhone 5c has been advertised as the company's mainstream handset, featuring a plastic chassis available in a range of colors.

Market watchers have been particularly interested in how the iPhone 5c will perform in Apple's smartphone lineup. Investors hope that the new mid-range model will allow Apple to grow its smartphone marketshare by appealing to new customers that wouldn't have otherwise purchased an iPhone.

But if sales of the iPhone 5c are too low, it could be a sign that the smartphone market is largely saturated. And, conversely, if the iPhone 5c were to prove exceptionally popular, it could eat in to sales of the flagship iPhone 5s and potentially hurt Apple's margins.

While Wall Street looks on with great interest ahead of Apple's upcoming quarterly earnings report, the company is unlikely to delve into specifics regarding sales of individual iPhone models. Apple has a policy of not breaking down sales of devices by specific models, citing competitive reasons.

Total sales of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c on their launch weekend in late September were 9 million units. About a week remained in the September quarter following that launch. The company will report its earnings from that quarter on Oct. 28.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 113
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    So basically what this survet says is early adopters are buying the flagship device. Wow color me shocked.
  • Reply 2 of 113
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    They only sold 3 million iPhone 5s in one weekend? More than any other non-iPhone ever has in the same amount of time? What a collossal failure!
  • Reply 3 of 113
    "With the iPhone 5c taking 27 percent this year, it's just slightly ahead of the 23 percent share the iPhone 4S captured during the same period in 2012, just after the launch of the iPhone 5."

    Comparing just the 4s to the 5c sales gives an increase of 17,4 %.
    I don't think that that is a bad increase. I think that the increase will be even more noticeable in the next couple of months.
    Also that extra 4% comes mostly from the "free" iPhone share, not the 5s.
  • Reply 4 of 113
    I was wrong, both the 4 and 4s accounted for 9% on the same period of time.
    And yes, this shows the potential of the 5c.
  • Reply 5 of 113
    poksipoksi Posts: 482member

    To the anal-ysts:

     

    1. You were proven many times (almost every time actually) you do not understand supply chain as TC suggested sometime ago, so it is impossible for you to understand and know the sales all together not to mention breakdown by model.

     

    2. Who told you 5C is meant as mainstream iPhone model? I just read it's "For colorful", and 5S for "Forward thinking"....

     

    3. Have you planned how much shares are there to steal from small investors with this "news" and "data"? 

  • Reply 6 of 113
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    "But if sales of the iPhone 5c are too low, it could be a sign that the smartphone market is largely saturated. And, conversely, if the iPhone 5c were to prove exceptionally popular, it could eat in to sales of the flagship iPhone 5s and potentially hurt Apple's margins."

     

    So, bottom line, if the 5c sells well that's bad. If the 5c doesn't sell well that's bad. Either way Apple is doomed. I think we get the picture.

     

    And what spin will the tech media put on this? We know the answer to that too. Today the 5c will be officially declared an epic fail and, you guessed it, Apple is doomed.

     

    But Samsung puts out turd after turd throwing everything it can at the wall and nobody cares. Well, that is comforting in a way I guess.

  • Reply 7 of 113
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    sog35 wrote: »
    but, but, but no one wants to buy the 5C.

    /s

    how much more evidence do we need to show the 5C was a great move?

    "The new data also suggests that the iPhone 5c is not carving out a larger share of overall iPhone sales than the iPhone 4S managed last year, when it was the company's $100-on-contract handset."

    There hasn't been much evidence yet that the 5c was a "great move" unless I've missed a lot.
  • Reply 8 of 113
    Text Error in report- switch 5s with 5c in fifth paragraph.
  • Reply 9 of 113
    Example of how bad blog writers have gotten.

    "The new data also suggests that the iPhone 5c is not carving out a larger share of overall iPhone sales than the iPhone 4S managed last year, when it was the company's $100-on-contract handset.

    With the iPhone 5c taking 27 percent this year, it's just slightly ahead of the 23 percent share the iPhone 4S captured during the same period in 2012, just after the launch of the iPhone 5."

    Ok, in the first paragraph, you say the 5c is NOT carving out a larger share..

    The in the very next paragraph, you say, based on numbers, it's nabbed an extra 4% and HAS carved out a larger share.. Either you're intentionally trying to put a bad spin on this or incompetent.. I say both.. heh
  • Reply 10 of 113
    enzosenzos Posts: 344member
    So that's 2.8 million 5Cs and 6.2 million 5Ss (assuming 9 mil 5C 5S). Versus 4 million Galaxy 4Ss in it's first weekend. Sounds like a bit of trouncing to me, esp since the Galaxy data look cooked when the total first month shipment was 10 million (dishonesty, who'd have think it!?). The 5C is doing its job = the iP 5 refreshed.
  • Reply 11 of 113
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    sog35 wrote: »
    You missed a lot.  Look at the numbers.

    First off the 5S is selling more than the 5.  I'll be conservative and say the 5S is selling 15% more units.

    The 4S was 23%, the 5C is 27%.  That is a 17% increase just in unit share alone.  Now add in the increased number of 5S units sold and we are looking at a 20%+ increase in sales.

    From the numbers it looks like the 5C is outselling the 4S in units by 20%-25% while producing better margins.

    So then you're basing your "how much more evidence do we need" on this single report, even tho you've dismissed other reports that are painting the 5c sales in a lesser light. Why are you considering this particular one so reliable? The 5c could be a "great move" but I'd think you'd expect a bit more in the way of evidence before arriving at that as a factual conclusion.
  • Reply 12 of 113
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post





    "The new data also suggests that the iPhone 5c is not carving out a larger share of overall iPhone sales than the iPhone 4S managed last year, when it was the company's $100-on-contract handset."



    There hasn't been much evidence yet that the 5c was a "great move" unless I've missed a lot.

     

     

    Yes, but the article makes little sense because then it goes on to say the iPhone 5c is carving out 27% opposed to last years 23% for the 4S. If true, that is a 4% increase. 

     

    More importantly, where was the survey conducted? My understanding was the iPhone 5c was intended to really appeal overseas. 

     

    Further, the iPhone 5C also allows Apple to turn out more 5Ss by freeing up machinery used to manufacture the 5Ss that would also have to be used to make the iPhone 5. With higher margins, the iPhone 5c seems like a pretty good move to me, but time will tell. I doubt early adopters are rushing out to get the 5C, and doubt Apple would expect as much. 

  • Reply 13 of 113
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    tbell wrote: »
    Yes, but the article makes little sense because then it goes on to say the iPhone 5c is carving out 27% opposed to last years 23% for the 4S. If true, that is a 4% increase.

    Except that the 5C is only 1 of 2 new iPhones released this year, so the 4% figure isn't accurate because last year 1) the 4S was a year old and 2) the 5 was the only phone released. When not even looking at the ratio on how the 5C compares to the 5S the 4% figure could be double.
  • Reply 14 of 113
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Drunkzombie View Post



    "With the iPhone 5c taking 27 percent this year, it's just slightly ahead of the 23 percent share the iPhone 4S captured during the same period in 2012, just after the launch of the iPhone 5."



    Comparing just the 4s to the 5c sales gives an increase of 17,4 %.

    I don't think that that is a bad increase. I think that the increase will be even more noticeable in the next couple of months.

    Also that extra 4% comes mostly from the "free" iPhone share, not the 5s.

     

    The comparison is not valid. We don't know if 5s sold better than 5 last year or vice versa. All we can say is that the ratio improve. I would venture to guess that 5s sell better than 5 last year so the unit improvement of 5c vs 4s is going to be better than 17.4%.  But that is a guess not a certainty. 

  • Reply 15 of 113
    kevtkevt Posts: 195member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post





    "The new data also suggests that the iPhone 5c is not carving out a larger share of overall iPhone sales than the iPhone 4S managed last year, when it was the company's $100-on-contract handset."



    There hasn't been much evidence yet that the 5c was a "great move" unless I've missed a lot.



     


    I agree. The figures 4% more share the iPhone 4S did last year, are (1) modest (2) need to be set against the background of a plentiful supply of the 5C with limited supply of the 5S; preorders taken for the 5C, not for the 5S. Against that background the split looks low for the 5C.


     


    Still, it's good for the 5S.
  • Reply 16 of 113
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by enzos View Post



    So that's 2.8 million 5Cs and 6.2 million 5Ss (assuming 9 mil 5C 5S). Versus 4 million Galaxy 4Ss in it's first weekend. Sounds like a bit of trouncing to me, esp since the Galaxy data look cooked when the total first month shipment was 10 million (dishonesty, who'd have think it!?). The 5C is doing its job = the iP 5 refreshed.

    not exactly. The 9 million initial week number include sale through to customers and inventory build (mostly 5c inventory build since 5s has been sold out everywhere). The 64% 5s and 27% 5c number are sale through ratio.  And there is no discussion about where the survey is taken. So it is likely to be just a local preference (e.g. US) and we cannot extrapolate this number to world wide number. Do we  know if China or Japan has the same break down between 5s and 5c sales? (I don't think so)..

  • Reply 17 of 113
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    tbell wrote: »

    Yes, but the article makes little sense because then it goes on to say the iPhone 5c is carving out 27% opposed to last years 23% for the 4S. If true, that is a 4% increase. 

    More importantly, where was the survey conducted? My understanding was the iPhone 5c was intended to really appeal overseas. 

    Further, the iPhone 5C also allows Apple to turn out more 5Ss by freeing up machinery used to manufacture the 5Ss that would also have to be used to make the iPhone 5. With higher margins, the iPhone 5c seems like a pretty good move to me, but time will tell. I doubt early adopters are rushing out to get the 5C, and doubt Apple would expect as much. 

    IF the numbers are fairly accurate (big IF IMO) it would only be a 4% increase despite a whole lotta Apple advertising and promotion of the 5c. I'd think you'd be more likely to see that as a disappointing increase considering the efforts in promoting it.
  • Reply 18 of 113
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    sog35 wrote: »
    I'm sorry but i tend to give Apple the benefit of the doubt unlike the media and trolls on this site because of their past history.  How many times have they released a loser product in the last 5 years?

    Fair enough. You don't require much evidence then, with past history being a reliable enough prognosticator. You're correct that Apple has been pretty successful with most other products
  • Reply 19 of 113
    The comparison is not valid. We don't know if 5s sold better than 5 last year or vice versa. All we can say is that the ratio improve. I would venture to guess that 5s sell better than 5 last year so the unit improvement of 5c vs 4s is going to be better than 17.4%.  But that is a guess not a certainty. 

    I agree with you on that, we don't know how much the 64% and 27% actually are.

    I still think that the difference in ratio is significant.
  • Reply 20 of 113
    inklinginkling Posts: 768member
    Quote: "But if sales of the iPhone 5c are too low, it could be a sign that the smartphone market is largely saturated."

    It could also be an indication that the 5c is simply overpriced, particularly since its primary competitor is a used iPhone 5, perhaps picked up from a friend who's upgraded to a 5s. And that iPhone 5, if it has been treated well, will look much better.
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