14 DAY TRIAL // Apple managed to address iPhone X inventory issues in December, and this helped the company bring more units in stores, thus substantially reducing waiting times and making the device available for walk-in customers.
All of these translated to total iPhone X sales of 29 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017, and this makes Apple’s anniversary iPhone the number one smartphone models in Q4 in terms of sales, according to Canalys.
The research firm says the biggest sales were recorded in markets where the iPhone X has been subsidized thanks to carrier offers and plans, with China itself accounting for no less than 7 million units.
iPhone X could have done better
Additionally, Apple’s older iPhone models also sold very well, including even the SE and the 6s, both of which benefited from lower prices thanks to the arrival of the iPhone X.
“Apple is looking at its best performance to date, all thanks to the massive changes it made to its portfolio in Q3,” said Canalys analyst TuanAnh Nguyen.
“This strategy has hedged Apple’s risk as it upgrades the iPhone, in both design and user experience. While new technologies, such as Face ID and bezel-less displays, help to justify the US$999 price tag and maintain competitiveness with Samsung, Huawei and Google, having a larger portfolio allows Apple to meet its overall shipment targets, and protect its market leadership in the premium segment.”
And while only sky appears to be the limit for Apple and the iPhone X, Canalys admits that the new anniversary model could have done better.
The high price tag and the delay impacting the model eventually affected sales, pushing some potential iPhone X customers to older iPhones or even to Android devices. No specifics were provided on flagship phone sales recorded by the likes of Samsung and Google, but we can only assume that their devices sold less than iPhone X’s 29 million units during the fourth quarter of the last year.