Suddenly, Apple’s first quarterly results for 2012 make perfect sense

Jan 26, 2012 14:22 GMT  ·  By

A recent study by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) reveals what iPhone models people bought the most during Apple’s last fiscal quarter.

And it’s not surprising that the iPhone 4S accounted for 89 percent of all the iPhones sold since the beginning of October, which also justifies those stellar financial results Apple reported this week.

The remaining 4% and 7% were iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 purchases, respectively.

CIRP Co-founder Mike Levin told AllThingsD: “Clearly, the iPhone 4S sold very well,” adding that “an amazing 19 percent of all iPhone buyers upgraded from the iPhone 4, a phone barely a year old at the time of the launch.”

Almost half of the iPhone owners upgrading to the new 4S broke their existing carrier contracts. 19 percent could afford their purchase after selling their old iPhone in the secondary market.