All with record customer satisfaction rates, it says

Jan 28, 2021 17:38 GMT  ·  By

Every time Apple launches a new iPhone model, the entire world starts talking about an expected supercycle, as many analysts believe a refreshed smartphone is reason enough for the existing userbase to upgrade.

But as we learned in the last five years or so, a supercycle is pretty difficult to happen, no matter if Apple comes up with more or less substantial upgrades.

This time, however, it looks like the whole thing is actually happening, and not only that more people are upgrading to iPhone 12, but also more and more customers end up buying an iPhone. In other words, first-time iPhone buyers are a thing these days, with Apple revealing recently that its device base surpassed 1 billion units.

“Our active installed base of iPhones reached a new all-time high and has now surpassed 1 billion devices, thanks to the exceptional loyalty of our customer base and strength of our ecosystem. In fact, in the U.S., the latest survey of consumers from 451 Research indicates iPhone customer satisfaction of 98% for the iPhone 12 family,” CEO Tim Cook said.

New iPhone coming this spring

Apple no longer shares any sales data for the iPhone, but Cook says in the December quarter, iPhone recorded a growth of 17 percent. “We hit a new high watermark for our installed base of active devices, with growth accelerating as we passed 1.65 billion devices worldwide during the December quarter. iPhone grew by 17% year-over-year, driven by strong demand for the iPhone 12 family, and our active installed base of iPhones is now over 1 billion. The customer response to the new iPhone 12 models' unprecedented innovation from world-class cameras to the great and growing potential of 5G has been enthusiastic, even in light of the ongoing COVID-19 impact at retail locations,” Cook said.

Apple is also expected to launch a new iPhone SE in the spring of this year, possibly as a larger version of the existing model.