The iPhone ranked as the world’s top shipping smart phone in the third quarter of 2017 — but the iPhone 8 didn’t even crack the top five.
Instead, older (and cheaper) iPhones dominated the list. That doesn’t mean iPhone 8 tanked, though. A variety of factors account for its relatively low numbers.
The world’s top handsets
A report from market research and analysis company Canalys claims that the iPhone 7 shipped 13 million units in the quarter, while the iPhone 6s managed a little over half of this with 7.9 million shipments. Samsung’s Galaxy J2 Prime was third, with 7.8 million shipped, while Oppo took fourth and fifth place, with its A57 and R11 shipping 7.8 million and 7.2 million units.
Overall worldwide shipments hit 375.9 million, representing a 5.9 percent increase year on year. Of these, Apple shipped 46.7 million iPhones over the three month period.
So why didn’t the iPhone 8 or 8 Plus make the top five smartphones list then? Well, for one thing it was available for just eight days of the quarter. In that regard, the fact that he iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus accounted for 11.8 million shipments is actually kind of a triumph.
Given that they were only available for a fraction of the three month cycle, it’s no surprise that they didn’t make it to the number one position.
Even more crucial is the fact that, when it comes to early adopters, most people were probably hanging on for the iPhone X. A similar phenomenon was seen with the shorter than usual queues outside the Apple Stores for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus launch.
This may also explain why the 11.8 million figure is substantially less than the 14 million that the previous year’s iPhone 7 shipped in its first quarter on the market.
Triumph of the iPhone 8 Plus
One interesting insight from Canalys is the fact that the iPhone 8 Plus reportedly shipped 6.3 million units in the quarter, compared to the smaller iPhone 8’s 5.4 million. This is the first time an iPhone Plus model has out shipped its smaller sibling in a single quarter. (Apple never confirms the exact ratio or “mix” for competitive reasons.)
“Shipments of older devices, such as the iPhone 6s and SE, saw an uptick in Q3,” said Ben Stanton, an analyst at Canalys. “The iPhone 7 also shipped strongly after its price cut in September. Apple grew in Q3, but it was these older, cheaper models that propped up total iPhone shipments. Apple is clearly making a portfolio play here. With the launch of the iPhone X, it now has five tiers of iPhone and delivers iOS at more price bands than ever before. This is a new strategy for Apple. It is aggressively defending its market share, but it will not compromise its rigid margin structure to do so.”
Have you bought a new iPhone (or other smartphone) in the last quarter? If so, which model did you opt for? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Canalys
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
7 responses to “Here’s why older models beat iPhone 8 last quarter”
This was debunked by the Apple 4Q earnings call. You should probably take the story down.
Perhaps this is because the phone was only out for EIGHT days in the quarter? Jesus this article is worthless.
Exactly…
WTF is the headline supposed to mean?
Given that the iPhone 8 series only sold for a week in Q3, it is no surprise that it was outsold by the iPhone 7
It’s frankly amazing that Apple sold 12 million iPhone 8 and 8 Plus units in Spetember, given that the iPhone X was hot on its heels.
It looks to me like Apple had a very solid quarter, in spite of the fact that the real flagship launch was pushed to Q4.
This article is clickbait.
Is there any tech site that doesn’t troll its readers anymore?
If you find one, let me know.
I’m still liking AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, MacDailyNews, and MacRumors.
Daring Fireball is the class act these days, though.
Consider myself chastened! I did mention the short window in the original post, but you’re correct in pointing out I should have framed this differently. I’ve revised the article to make much more of a point of this. Apologies all!