Strategy Analytics Estimates Fourth-Quarter Sales Of iPhone Models
TechCrunch ran the story with the stance that the iPhone 5 “becoming” the world’s number one handset was a revelation. However, seeing as the Galaxy S III is over six months old, it is to be expected that sales of that device are falling off. In addition, the iPhone 5 has technically existed for two quarters, but in Q3 it was only available for six days. “Becoming” number one in the next quarter, in which the iPhone 5 would be on sale for every single day of the period, was practically an inevitability.
To me, the surprising element of these statistics is the continued prevalence of the 4S, which placed second in the race for best-selling smartphone in the fourth quarter. Strategy Analytics’ data suggests that the sales mix of the year-old device is around 35%. I may be misremembering but I don’t think the proportion is normally that high for the obsolesce iPhone models.