The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 may be outselling its larger cousin by a rate of three to one, according to a study conducted by Consumer Intelligence Research. The study covers the first 30 days of sales for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in the U.S.
Details on the iPhone 6 study
UBS analyst Steven Milunovich said that the results of that study indicate that out of all iPhone sales, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 made up 68% of them. The iPhone 6 Plus was about 23% to 24% of the total iPhone sales. Together, the two new iPhone models made up more than 90% of total iPhone sales during the first month they were available to consumers.
Milunovich said that last year, the iPhone 5S and 5C made up a collective 84% of total iPhone sales in the first month they were available to consumers. Obviously this means that consumers are more interested in the new models than they were last year.
The analyst adds that even though the numbers suggest that the iPhone 6 is outselling the iPhone 6 Plus by a ratio of three to one, it’s difficult to tell just how strong demand for the iPhone 6 Plus is because Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) appears to still be dealing with supply shortages for the phablet-sized handset.
iPhone 6 buyers want more capacity
CIRP also looked at the amount of storage capacity this year’s iPhone buyers want. According to the firm’s research, the average storage capacity was 48 gigabytes, which is nearly twice what the average storage capacity was for last year’s iPhone buyers. Of course this makes sense because Apple did not offer a 32-gigabyte iPhone 6 Plus, as it only comes in 16, 64 and 128 gigabytes.
Analysts have been hoping that iPhone 6 and 6 Plus buyers will opt for the larger, more expensive models, which will help Apple’s margins. Of course the iPhone 6 Plus is also $100 more than the iPhone 6, so a mix shift toward the phablet would also raise margins.
