The Most Popular Apple Holiday Gifts
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Although Apple makes a big push to promote its products as great holiday gifts each year with holiday gift guides and other bonuses, it turns out that mainstream Apple products don’t show up under the tree nearly as often as you might expect.
At least, that’s what the latest market research by CIRP shows. According to its latest analysis of holiday gift giving, folks who buy even Apple accessories for their loved ones are in the minority, much less full-fledged devices like iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and Macs.
According to a survey of iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch owners, less than 3% of new Apple devices in any given quarter are received as gifts on average.
That’s not to say that many folks won’t be reasonably hoping for a new Apple device over the holidays. Apple sells tens of millions of products every quarter, which means even if a seemingly paltry 3% of Apple products are given as gifts, there will still likely be a million of them wrapped and waiting under trees this year.
Still, CIRP says this 3% distribution isn’t uniform. In last year’s October-December holiday quarter (Apple’s Q1 2024), 6% of new iPads and 9% of new Apple Watches were given as gifts, while Macs accounted for around 1% and iPhones were effectively zero.
The iPad and Apple Watch saw their biggest bump during last year’s final quarter, suggesting they’re more frequently explicitly given as holiday gifts. During the rest of 2023, those numbers sat at a much lower 2% for both device categories, while the iPhone and Mac remained at the same negligible numbers throughout the entire year.
That’s not too surprising, as those lines are drawn where you’d expect. It’s not exactly a shocker that Apple’s two most expensive products aren’t high on people’s holiday shopping lists, but it also goes beyond price.
The requirement to tie an iPhone into a cellular service plan makes it an awkward gift and a Mac is not only expensive, but also the type of product that’s more often tailored to someone’s individual needs.
iPhones are an unlikely gift, as the phone is just the beginning before someone (presumably the recipient) becomes responsible for ongoing mobile carrier charges. So, giving an iPhone as a gift is kind of like giving someone a puppy.CIRP
Although such gifts may be more common within families, many folks also pass their old devices on to kids, parents, and spouses when upgrading to a new device instead. Apple devices have good trade-in and resale values, but those still don’t compare to the cost of a new iPhone or MacBook, so they’re far more valuable as hand-me-downs than trade-ins when another family member needs a newer device.
Nevertheless, Apple Watches and iPads are easier gifts and can even be more fun and whimsical sometimes. An Apple Watch, in particular, offers a fair bit of customizability when it comes to picking out the right bands, and it’s also one of those things that many folks who can’t justify buying one for themselves would be happy to receive as a gift. The recipient typically has to have an iPhone (unless they’re an immediate family member and you plan to use Family Setup to pair it with your iPhone), but there are no ongoing costs.
Nevertheless, CIRP’s study fails to cover the bigger picture of Apple gifting over the holiday season as it focused solely on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, thereby leaving out what is perhaps the most “giftable” product in the entire lineup: AirPods.
Apple’s earbuds have proven to be some of the most popular Apple gifts for years, going back to 2016 when the first-generation version launched. Even after they’d been on the market for two years, they were still dominating wireless headphone sales, and with the new AirPods 4 on the market this year and the expanded hearing health features in the AirPods Pro 2, it’s likely to be a big quarter for Apple’s wearables business.
