14 DAY TRIAL // The iPhone SE launched by Apple last week is certainly appealing only to a niche of customers who want a smaller yet powerful smartphone, but it also has the purpose of upgrading those on older iPhone models to new hardware and software released by the company.
And it appears that, while doing that, the iPhone SE also manages to bring in more Android users as compared to the previous editions of the iPhone.
A study conducted by Slice Intelligence shows that, out of all those who have purchased the iPhone SE, only 35.4 percent are existing Apple customers while 48.7 percent have made no phone purchases in the last 24 months. What’s interesting is that 15.9 percent of the buyers are said to be coming from a non-Apple platform, and Slice claims that most are from Android.
When comparing iPhone SE’s stats with those of the iPhone 6s side by side, it’s very clear that the 4-inch model is more effective when it comes to attracting more Android users.
The research goes on to say that only 10.3 percent of those who have bought the iPhone 6s came from another platform while 49.3 percent were existing Apple customers.
Early sales
Unfortunately for Apple, it’s not all just milk and honey in SE’s case. A graph comparing early sales of the last iPhone models shows that the SE has recorded only 3 percent of the sales compared to the iPhone 6, which clearly proves that the device is not necessarily aimed at “everyone,” but only to a niche looking for a smaller smartphone.
“The number of iPhone SEs bought the first weekend of availability was 94 percent smaller than the iPhone 6S launch, which was 46 percent the number of iPhone 6 devices sold when it was released,” the study shows.
The iPhone SE comes with almost the same look as the iPhone 5S but features hardware available on the iPhone 6s, such as the A9 and M9 processors and the 12MP camera. It also borrows some parts from the iPhone 6, including the fingerprint sensor and the front-facing 1.2MP camera.
