Apple CEO Tim Cook: 'Demand Was Stronger Towards iPhone 7 Plus Than We Expected' - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple CEO Tim Cook: 'Demand Was Stronger Towards iPhone 7 Plus Than We Expected'

Apple did not expect so many people to choose the iPhone 7 Plus over the iPhone 7, according to statements made by Apple CEO Tim Cook during today's second quarter earnings call.

"One of the things we didn't get right was the mix between the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus," said Cook. "Demand was much stronger towards the iPhone 7 Plus than we expected." Apple's misestimation of the popularity of the iPhone 7 Plus led to some shortages of the bigger-screened device during the December quarter.

iphone7plus lineup
Apple sold the highest number of Plus models in the first half of fiscal 2017 than ever before, higher than the iPhone 6 and 6s lineups. Cook says it took Apple a while to "bring the iPhone 7 Plus into balance," something that occurred early in the second quarter.

According to Cook, Apple learns from its mistakes. "Every time we launch something, we learn something, and we brush up our models and apply everything we learn for next time," he said.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iOS 27 Next to iPhone

Here's When iOS 27 Rolls Out Today in Every Time Zone [Update: It's Out]

Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by
Update 10:04 a.m.: iOS 27 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking! Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event...
iOS 27 Icon iPhone

iOS 27 Available Today With These 8 New Features

Monday September 14, 2026 9:00 am PDT by
Update: Apple has released iOS 27. During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14. iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight new features and changes coming with iOS...
deep black iphone 18 pro

Apple Says iPhone 18 Pro Max Sold in U.S. Differs in One Way

Saturday September 12, 2026 3:27 pm PDT by
As noted by Nicolas Lellouche, who writes for the French tech website Numerama, Apple has updated its tech specs pages for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max to clarify which models are equipped with its new C2 cellular modem and where. Apple now says the iPhone 18 Pro has a C2 modem worldwide, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max uses the chip in every country except for the U.S. According...

Top Rated Comments

delonholmes Avatar
122 months ago
I mean when you have device specific features, dual camera, portrait mode, bigger display etc, people will want it..
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Asarien Avatar
122 months ago
What then, does Tim Cook know?
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
meaning-matters Avatar
122 months ago
Could have sold a lot more iPhone 7 if it had the same features as the Plus
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aaronhead14 Avatar
122 months ago
Hey Tim, I don't think the demand was all that big for a plus-sized phone. Although, there's definitely a demand for the better camera. So when you pull an annoying move by restricting the nice camera to the plus-sized model only, then of course more people are going to buy that one.... duh. What you should be doing is making the same phone in 2 different sizes. That's what people actually want. I'd love to have the iPhone 7 Plus features in the iPhone 7 size.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Fortimir Avatar
122 months ago
You'd think they'd have a market research budget second to none in order to address these sort of things.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nwcs Avatar
122 months ago
I wonder how the mix would be if they had put the same features (sans screen size) into all the iPhones. Is it the big screen that is the lure or the features not available elsewhere?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)