Apple's newest 4-inch iPhone SE has taken a 16 percent share of the overall United States iPhone market in its launch quarter, according to new survey data shared by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners and UBS analyst Steven Milunovich. The data shows that the iPhone SE has been successful in "flushing out" older phones, with 26 percent of iPhone buyers in the quarter moving up from an iPhone 4s, up from 16 percent in the previous quarter.
The strong entry of the iPhone SE naturally came at the expense of Apple's other phones in model share, with the iPhone SE helping to prop up overall iPhone sales as the other models begin showing their age by serving as an enticing upgrade option for more frugal customers and those unwilling to upgrade to a larger screen.
The percentage of plus models sold fell by 6 points in the June quarter following a 9 point increase in March. The success of the iPhone SE could demonstrate pent-up demand for a smaller screen and price sensitivity in the installed base.
In the same vein, CIRP's data points to a slight shift towards the preference of lower storage capacities across every model in the iPhone family, as more frugal-minded consumers enter the market at the end of the current iPhone cycle. Although the research firm has seen a slow uptick in higher storage options over the last three quarters (62 percent of iPhone buyers opted for higher capacities in the March quarter, increasing 11 percent year-over-year), compared to the year-ago quarter average storage per smartphone dropped a total of 10 percent. The iPhone SE with only 16 GB and 64 GB options undoubtedly contributed to this decrease.
Close speculation has surrounded not only the current iPhone sales numbers, but the prediction of how well the iPhone 7 will do come September as Apple tries to regain momentum following the first year-over-year decline in revenue since 2003 and first ever year-over-year decline in iPhone sales. Concerns over potential "lack of innovation" is at the root of some doom-and-gloom sales predictions, although, as CIRP corroborated today, Apple has continued to ramp up production of the iPhone SE in the wake of "very strong" demand.
Friday January 9, 2026 8:17 am PST by Tim Hardwick
2026 could be a bumper year for Apple's Mac lineup, with the company expected to announce as many as four separate MacBook launches. Rumors suggest Apple will court both ends of the consumer spectrum, with more affordable options for students and feature-rich premium lines for users that seek the highest specifications from a laptop.
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Thursday January 8, 2026 2:56 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth...
Monday January 12, 2026 7:38 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a statement shared with CNBC today, Apple confirmed that Google Gemini will power the next-generation version of Siri that is slated to launch later this year.
"After careful evaluation, we determined that Google's technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we're excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users," the statement...
Monday January 12, 2026 11:38 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Elon Musk today expressed concern about Apple and Google partnering on a more personalized version of Siri powered by Google's generative AI platform Gemini.
"This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that [they] also have Android and Chrome," wrote Musk, in a post on X.
Musk serves as CEO of xAI, the company behind Gemini competitor Grok.
It is unlikely...
Monday January 12, 2026 1:15 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today seeded the second beta of iOS 26.3, nearly a month after the first beta. So far, the update includes a couple of new features for iPhones.
iOS 15.3 through iOS 18.3 were all released in late January over the years, so it is thereby likely that iOS 26.3 will be released towards the end of this month as well. The update is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer.
Below,...
Monday January 12, 2026 8:48 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple and Google today announced that Google Gemini will help power not only a more personalized version of Siri, but a range of future Apple Intelligence features.
"Apple and Google have entered into a multi-year collaboration under which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google's Gemini models and cloud technology," the companies said, in a statement. "These...
Friday January 9, 2026 4:24 am PST by Tim Hardwick
The Unicode Consortium has published a draft list of emoji that could come to smartphones and other devices in the future. The list shared by Emojipedia outlines 19 emoji candidates under consideration for Emoji 18.0, which is expected to be finalized in September 2026.
Among the proposed additions are a squinting face emoji, left- and right-pointing thumb gestures, a pickle, a lighthouse, a ...
Monday January 12, 2026 8:19 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26.3 will likely be released to the public later this month, but it appears that Apple is preparing to push out another software update in the interim.
Apple's software engineers have started testing iOS 26.2.1, according to the MacRumors visitor logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. The update will likely be released at some point this week or next week.
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Close speculation has surrounded not only the current iPhone sales numbers, but the prediction of how well the iPhone 7 will do come September as Apple tries to regain momentum following the first year-over-year decline in revenue since 2003 and first ever year-over-year decline in iPhone sales. Concerns over potential "lack of innovation" is at the root of some doom-and-gloom sales predictions, although, as CIRP corroborated today, Apple has continued to ramp up production of the iPhone SE in the wake of "very strong" demand.
