America has almost no love for small iPhones

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Apple finally gave us a phablet with iPhone 6 Plus.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Over 132 million Apple smartphones are now in use in the U.S., and the vast majority of those are larger devices.

According to the latest data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, demand for the 5.5-inch Plus-sized iPhones is getting even stronger, with their share of the market rising 10 percent in just one year.

While rivals championed larger smartphones, Apple stuck by the iPhone’s 4-inch display for seven years. Samsung was one of the first to launch a handset with a display over 5 inches big in 2011, but it wasn’t until 2014 that Apple launched the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

It did so in response to demand for larger devices, and with fans switching to Android in pursuit of bigger displays. But while it may have been a little late to the game, Apple didn’t lose out. There are now over 135 million iPhones in the U.S., and they’re still selling like hot cakes.

Not only that, but demand for the largest iPhone is rising. Figures from CIRP show that 35 percent of the devices in use as of December 31, 2016 are Plus models, up from 25 percent on December 31, 2015.

Of that 135 million, 25 million, or 19 percent, are iPhone 7 series devices. 51 million, or 38 percent, are iPhone 6 series devices. The iPhone 6s series accounts for about 17 percent. That means just 26 percent of the iPhones in use in the U.S. today have 4-inch screens.

“Apple continues to increase its sales of larger format phones,” said Mike Levin, Partner and Co-Founder of CIRP.

“It appears to have overcome initial doubts about their appeal. And given their premium prices and a trend toward purchasing greater storage capacity among all iPhone buyers, this added meaningfully to revenues and gross margin.”

Some rumors have claimed this year’s iPhone 8 could have an even larger display, though that seems a little unlikely. We will almost certainly see Apple switching to OLED this year, however, and introducing an all-new design made mostly out of glass.

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