Why Apple’s Selling More iPhone XRs Than XS and XS Max’ Combined

According to the most recently available third-party data, Apple sold more iPhone XRs than any other iPhone model during its most recent fiscal quarter.

Indeed, while the Cupertino tech giant’s going rogue (by withholding all iPhone sales data from investors during its future quarterly earnings calls), recent data from the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) agency revealed that iPhone XR represented ~32 percent of all new iPhone sales during the quarter ending December 30 — a surprising percentage of them coming from Android switchers, to boot.

Well CIRP is back this week with an even more definitive new data compilation, suggesting that, in totality, Apple’s iPhone XR actually accounted for 39 percent of all new iPhone sales between the months of October and December 2018, according to the results of their latest survey, which were initially reported Friday morning by PocketNow.

The survey — incorporating responses from 500 U.S. consumers who purchased an Apple device during the holiday quarter — also interestingly enough revealed that Apple’s iPhone XS and XS Max, during the same quarter, accounted for just 26 percent of new iPhone sales, combined.

It also revealed, in confirmation of what we already knew, that Apple’s iPhone 8 reigns (even still) a popular choice among consumers — and that the iPhone XR is ultimately performing about the same as iPhone 8 and 8 Plus did, sales-wise, during the same quarter last year.

What’s So Surprising?

Of course, while Apple’s iPhone XS and XS Max are discernibly more premium smartphones, boasting a mess of high-end features and even more high-end components (albeit for a very high-end price) — these findings don’t come with much of a shock factor, really…

Even though Apple’s expressed that it would rather build “the best smartphone than the cheapest” before, it was presumable from the get-go that its cheapest new iPhone offering would ultimately become its most popular — even at the expense of its higher-priced counterparts.

While it doesn’t boast advancements like a high-resolution Super Retina OLED display or dual-lens camera systems like the iPhone XS and XS Max, Apple’s iPhone XR nevertheless offers most of the same high-end features, including an A12 Bionic CPU, advanced Face ID security, Apple’s new edge-to-edge design with a large 6.1-inch LRD display and so much more.

And, perhaps most telling of all, is that it can be yours for quite literally a fraction [3/4ths] the price of an iPhone XS: just $749, in comparison to $999. 

Not only that, but as slumping iPhone sales continue fiddling with AAPL’s bottom-line, the company’s launched several, first-of-their-kind promotions in the U.S. and Japan, under the terms of which users of older iPhone models [like the 6, 6s, and 7] can trade-in their handset, and trade-up to a brand-new iPhone XR for as little as $449.

This, of course, presents an incredible — and in my opinion, difficult to pass-up — opportunity, for potentially tens of millions of modern iPhone users to acquire among the most modern and advanced iPhones to date for just pennies on the dollar.