U.S. Customers Favoring iPhone 6 Over 6 Plus by 3:1 as 91% of Buyers Opt for Latest Models

Following the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus back in September, a new survey of U.S. customers by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) details the adoption rate of the first thirty days of the devices' lifespan.

The survey data, shared in a research note published today by UBS analyst Steven Milunovich, indicates that 91 percent of iPhone owners bought either an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus in the first four weeks of launch, rising from 86 percent in the first two weeks. Uptake of the new models also compares favorably to last year's iPhone launch, which saw 84 percent of customers in the first thirty days opting for the iPhone 5s and 5c.

iphone_6_iphone_6_plus
Most of the increase in share for the new models since the initial launch period has come from the iPhone 6, which saw an increase of six percentage points to 68 percent, while the iPhone 6 Plus remains at around 23-24 percent of purchases, despite both facing high demand during their initial launch.

The 3:1 ratio favoring the iPhone 6 over 6 Plus has come down slightly from early adoption rate data, but as highlighted by Apple's Greg Joswiak last month, the true balance of customer interest won't be known until production constraints, which more heavily affect the iPhone 6 Plus, are resolved. The balance will also vary significantly by country, with customers in Asian countries tending to prefer larger screens than those in other countries.

The study by CIRP also measured future intentions on purchasing the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Of those asked, over 40 percent were planning to buy an iPhone 6 within the next year. Nineteen percent of Samsung users surveyed also plan to switch over to Apple for their next phone purchases, with over half of those intended purchases favoring the iPhone 6 Plus.

While that marks a significant potential share gain for Apple, recent data has so far shown lower than expected shares of Android customers switching over to the iPhone 6. A more realistic picture will, however, come later as the surge of iPhone early adopters wanes.

When the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launched in September, they sold over ten million units in their launch weekend, including 4 million first-day pre-orders. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus also outpaced last year's nine million units of the iPhone 5s and 5c shipped in their opening weekend, but that figure is widely viewed as somewhat inflated by ample stocks of iPhone 5c units shipping into inventory channels.

Related Forum: iPhone

Top Rated Comments

mrfoof82 Avatar
123 months ago
25% of buyers going for the Plus is still significant. That's a win for Apple, as those are customers that may have went elsewhere for a large form-factor phone.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NY Guitarist Avatar
123 months ago
I just want an iPhone, not an iPad-phone.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Shlooky Avatar
123 months ago
I don't know why anyone wouldn't want the 6 plus. I guess to each their own.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KdParker Avatar
123 months ago
Still think the wait times for the iPhone 6+ vs the iPhone 6 plays a huge part in differences in the numbers. Why wait 3 - 4 weeks for the plus when you can have the iPhone 6 immediately?

Overtime they should even up once the supply of iPhone 6+ increases.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brianvictor7 Avatar
123 months ago
This doesn't surprise me. Even discounting the added cost, I don't think nearly as many people want a 2 handed phone as analysts think.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
scoobydoo99 Avatar
123 months ago
This doesn't surprise me. Even discounting the added cost, I don't think nearly as many people want a 2 handed phone as analysts think.

The iPhone 6 IS a two-handed phone. Soooooo inconvenient compared to my 4. Wish Apple didn't force us into this phablet world.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iPad And Calculator App Feature

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
iOS 17 All New Features Thumb

iOS 17.5 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Sunday April 21, 2024 3:00 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 17.5 update for the iPhone includes only a few new user-facing features, but hidden code changes reveal some additional possibilities. Below, we have recapped everything new in the iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 beta so far. Web Distribution Starting with the second beta of iOS 17.5, eligible developers are able to distribute their iOS apps to iPhone users located in the EU...