iPhone 16e Sales Outperform SE in First Quarter YoY, Pro Models Decline

New data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) suggests Apple's iPhone 16e is off to a strong start, capturing 7% of U.S. iPhone sales in its first partial quarter of availability. The new mid-range offering outperformed the iPhone SE's share from the same quarter last year.

Apple iPhone 16 family lineup
The entire iPhone 16 lineup, now consisting of five models with the addition of the 16e, accounted for 74% of total U.S. iPhone sales in the March 2025 quarter. It's a marked increase from the 68% share held by the four iPhone 15 models during the same period in 2024.

While the 16e drove much of this growth, CIRP's data shows some surprising shifts across the lineup. The standard iPhone 16 saw a decent boost, climbing to 20% of sales compared to just 14% for the iPhone 15 in the previous year's quarter.

Meanwhile, Apple's high-end models had an unexpected decline. The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max together accounted for 38% of iPhone sales, down from 45% for the iPhone 15 Pro models a year earlier. The iPhone 16 Pro specifically dropped from 22% to 17% market share.

CIRP iphone 16 us sales data
The numbers suggest Apple's strengthening of its mid-range offerings may be working overall, with more buyers choosing the standard iPhone 16 over the pricier Pro models. At the same time, the 16e appears to be wooing customers who previously might have opted for older models.

Legacy iPhones – defined as models more than a year old – fell to 26% of U.S. sales, down from 32% the year before. The decline coincides with Apple's streamlining of its iPhone lineup, which included discontinuing the iPhone SE and the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus during the quarter.

Tag: CIRP

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Top Rated Comments

dominiongamma Avatar
8 months ago

Because it’s the cheapest new phone
Sad part is that it’s not that cheap for the features they removed
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turbineseaplane Avatar
8 months ago
Because it’s the cheapest new phone

Comparing to the SE last year isn’t that relevant as it’s a totally different type of offering, and it was already dated at that point.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
oldmacs Avatar
8 months ago
Wouldn't a comparison to iPhone 13 or 14 sales a year ago be more relevant? Or sales of the SE 3rd gen in 2022 when it was released?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Remy149 Avatar
8 months ago

But when compared to the low cost Pixel phone, the only benefit you have is iOS. The Pixel 9a is the better device other than the operating system.
The average consumer rarely changes ecosystem. Most iPhone customers don’t care about the specs on any android phone
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
applesith Avatar
8 months ago
It looks like the MR crowd was wrong in this, with all the doubt from the 16e announcement. It's amazing how the internet is an echo chamber disconnected from the real world, with this too.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bluecoast Avatar
8 months ago
According to nearly all tech reviewers, no-one should buy the 16e.

Looks like that got lost in translation then (I'm a 16e owner).

I would be interested to know how people are buying the 16e - I'm going to assume that it's mostly via carrier deals, but I'd love to know.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)