Apple's U.S. iPhone User Base Sees Slowing Growth in Q1 2019

Apple's estimated U.S. iPhone installed base saw little growth in the first calendar quarter of (second fiscal quarter) of 2019, according to new data shared today by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP).

As of March 30, 2019, the U.S. ‌iPhone‌ use base hit 193 million units, compared to 189 million units at the end of the December quarter, marking two percent growth quarter over quarter.

usinstalledbaseiphonecirp
Apple's ‌iPhone‌ user base was at 173 million units at the end of the March 2018 quarter, for year over year growth of 12 percent, which is not bad, but not quite hitting the growth rates of prior years.

A year ago, the installed ‌iPhone‌ user base in the U.S. grew four percent quarter over quarter and 19 percent compared to the prior year, indicating a plateau ‌iPhone‌ user base.

"The US installed base of iPhones continues to plateau," said Josh Lowitz, CIRP Partner and Co-Founder. "Relative to the most recent quarters, and especially to the past two or three years, slowing unit sales and longer ownership periods means that the growth in the number of US iPhones has flattened considerably. Of course, 12% growth in a year, after years of much greater growth is still good. However, investors grew accustomed to quarterly growth of 5% or more, and annual growth of almost 20%. This continuing trend prompts investors to wonder if iPhone sales outside of the US will compensate, and places greater pressure on Apple's determination to sell other products and services to the installed base of iPhone owners."

CIRP's estimated U.S. ‌iPhone‌ installed base is based on estimated worldwide ‌iPhone‌ sales of 39 million, calculated from Apple's ‌iPhone‌ revenue and average ‌iPhone‌ selling price for the quarter ending in March 2019.

‌iPhone‌ sales have slowed down, and in January, the decline in sales over the holiday period led Apple to make the rare move of lowering its expected revenue guidance. Apple also saw a dip in revenue in the second fiscal quarter (first calendar quarter) of 2019, bringing in $58 billion, compared to $61.1 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Apple has never provided a specific breakdown of the number of active devices in the United States, but earlier this year, the company said there were 1.4 billion active devices around the world. 900 million of those devices are iPhones.

Tag: CIRP

Popular Stories

iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
apple tv 4k new orange

Next Apple TV Expected to Launch This Year With These New Features

Monday September 22, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
The next Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Likely Features N1 Chip With Wi-Fi 7 Last year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the next Apple TV would be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, which is...
Apple Intelligence General Feature 2

iOS 26.1 Adds New Apple Intelligence Languages and Expands AirPods Live Translation

Monday September 22, 2025 11:15 am PDT by
With iOS 26.1, Apple Intelligence is gaining support for additional languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. Apple announced plans to expand the languages that can be used with Apple Intelligence last year, and now the added language support is here. Apple Intelligence is now available in the following...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge

Monday September 22, 2025 2:16 am PDT by
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air N1 Feature

Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue

Monday September 22, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues. Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
iPhone 17 Pro USB C Port

iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C Charging Speeds Tested With Apple Chargers

Monday September 22, 2025 7:29 am PDT by
The website ChargerLAB has tested the iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C charging speeds with a variety of Apple's chargers, from 18W to 140W. The device reached a peak charging speed of around 36W with the following Apple chargers:40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max 61W USB-C Power Adapter 67W USB-C Power Adapter 70W USB-C Power Adapter 96W USB-C Power Adapter 140W USB-C Power AdapterFor...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds First Betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1

Monday September 22, 2025 10:05 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with the first betas of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The new betas are the first updates to the iOS, iPadOS, macOS 26, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS releases that came out last week. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going...

Top Rated Comments

smaffei Avatar
83 months ago
Considering that there is 327 million people in the US. 50 million are 11 years old or below (don't know many people who are buying phones for their 9 year old).… That means roughly 70% of the phone buying population in the US owns an iPhone. I don't think you can expect bigger increases after hitting that landmark.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
83 months ago
That means roughly 70% of the phone buying population in the US owns an iPhone.
That's not a conclusion that you can reach based on the data provided. It would be like saying Apple has over a billion active devices worldwide therefore they have over a billion users worldwide.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
now i see it Avatar
83 months ago
There's a finite number of people who can afford these things.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dgdosen Avatar
83 months ago
What app?
"What's App"
"That's what I asked, what app?"
"I just told you - What's App"
"Now look, what's the name of the app that caused your phone to heat up?"
"Exactly!"

cc: Abott and Costello
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
83 months ago
For the average consumer, what does Apple have that the competition sorely lacks nowadays? Having FaceID did not make consumers switch to an iPhone. My phone does not have the feature, but if it did it will be the first thing to disable/bypass. A passcode is more secure than a thumbprint or FaceID. Think about it for a minute!
For the average consumer:

1. iOS

2. Tight integration/sharing data between Apple iOS/macOS/watchOS/tvOS apps.

3. Outstanding premium devices that many millions of satisfied repeat customers are willing to open their wallets and purchase year after year after year.

4. Excellent and highly rated customer service.

5. Frequent software updates.

6. Apple placing high regard on privacy and security.

7. Various Apple services that work well with devices.

8. Apple Stores.

9. Relatively decent resale value.

That's just a few that quickly come to mind.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xalea Avatar
83 months ago
I guess that's what happens when the price goes from $500 to $1300 in the span of a few years.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)