Apple's iPhone 6 continues to outsell the iPhone 6 Plus around the world, but the larger-sized phone is proving to be a significant hit in some markets, reports AppLovin in its latest November 2014 report.
According to AppLovin's analytics data, the iPhone 6 outsold the 6 Plus in an 80/20 ratio overall in the first 45 days of availability. While Europe, North America and Australia roughly follow this global sales distribution or lean slightly more heavily toward the iPhone 6, the trend changes in Asia, where the iPhone 6 Plus typically accounts for 35 percent or more of iPhone sales.
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South Korea, home to rivals Samsung and LG, is the only Asian country studied with an iPhone 6 Plus adoption rate below 35 percent. The country has a lower 71/29 split, perhaps related to competition from Samsung's Galaxy Series and LG's G3 phone in the large-screen market or simply due to customer preference for other reasons.
The split between iPhone 6 and 6 Plus may still be artificially constrained due to continuing shortages of the larger iPhone 6 Plus, but AppLovin's data offers an interesting glimpse of screen size preferences around the world. The ratio also varies significantly by data source, with a recent survey putting the U.S. ratio at 3:1 in favor of the iPhone 6 over the first four weeks of availability while AppLovin's data points to a 4:1 split.
As discussed by Apple's iPhone marketing chief Greg Joswiak at the Code Conference last month, the true ratio of demand won't be known until supply shortages are alleviated, but he did acknowledge that the ratio varies from country to country with Asian customers typically proving more likely to prefer larger screens, an observation supported by AppLovin's data.
Top Rated Comments
Any sociologists out there who want to explain why the Asian demographic prefers the larger device?
Not a sociologist by any means, but things I've heard that resonate:
Better wireless than wired infrastructure
Less PC use at home/only device
If you couple these things together, if you're doing 100% of your browsing/email/internet/gaming on a mobile device, wouldn't you want a larger device?
Some people accepted a 6 because the 6+ wasn't available. I want to see what the numbers are in Jan-Mar quarter.
Most reasonable people who aren't obsessed with technology (95%+ of the population) aren't going to buy the iPhone 6 just because the Plus wasn't available. They're going to buy the device that they want and wait for it. Most people aren't that impatient when it comes to technology. Heck, I'm pretty obsessed with technology and even I waited until my local store had the iPad Air 2 128GB in Space Gray. On retail launch day they only had silver and gold, so I just waited, even though it was just about a bezel color. I bet the difference in the next quarter will be within a few percent.
Any sociologists out there who want to explain why the Asian demographic prefers the larger device?
I'm no sociologist, but I know that in Japan at least a large portion of the population commutes long distances through public transportation. Larger devices would certainly be helpful for passing the time in this situation.or simply due to customer preference for other reasons.
Some quality market analysis right there.