iPhone 6s Launch Study Finds That More Buyers Are Choosing the Larger Plus Model

Consumer Intelligence Research Partners has released its analysis of the iPhone 6s launch which found that more buyers are choosing the larger Plus model and that a greater percentage of Android owners are switching over to iPhone.

CIRP finds that 71% of iPhone buyers after the launch purchased the new iPhone 6s or 6s Plus (Chart 1). This is similar to the share of the new iPhone 5S in September 2013, when 64% of buyers bought the then-new flagship iPhone, and less than the 91% of buyers who bought a then-new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus in September 2014. The iPhone 6s Plus accounted for 37% of the sales of the new phone models, compared to 25% for the iPhone 6 Plus in September 2015.




“The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus launch went reasonably well,” said Josh Lowitz, CIRP Partner and Co-Founder. “The share of new phones exceeded the 5S launch, but didn’t quite approach that of the 6/6 Plus launch, when Apple finally introduced the larger screen models. Importantly, in the most recent launch, the percent of new model buyers opting for the Plus model increased measurably over the 6/6 Plus launch. This migration to the higher price point model, combined with a move toward greater storage capacities, we expect 6s/6s Plus launch to boost Apple ASPs and margins nicely.”

Notably, Android owners accounted for larger share (26%) of iPhone 6s and 6s Plus purchases, compared to the iPhone 6 (12%) and iPhone 5s (23%) launches.

“The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus launch attracted a greater percentage of Android owners compared to a year ago,” said Mike Levin, Partner and Co-Founder of CIRP. “This says a little more about the very hot iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launch, which motivated more iPhone upgrades than in previous years. The share of buyers coming from the Android platform for this launch more resembles the long-term trend in Android and iOS switching.”

Take a look at the chart below for more details...