14 DAY TRIAL // While the Apple Store is the number one destination for new iPhones, most people actually don’t go there to buy the device.
If anything, it looks like the majority of Apple Store visitors step in to get some hands-on time with the company’s latest smartphones. So at the end of the day, the ones securing the lion’s share when it comes to selling new iPhones are none other than mobile carrier stores.
This is according to new research from CIRP, as an analysis of new iPhone sales revealed that some 67 percent of the new iPhones are sold by physical and online carrier stores.
Apple is indeed a top destination for getting a new iPhone, but it’s far behind carrier stores. Only 1 in 4 new iPhones are purchased from an Apple Store, according to CIRP.
In the United States, Best Buy accounts for some 4 percent of the new iPhones sold in the country.
“Conventional wisdom suggests that consumers gravitate toward Apple Stores when buying an iPhone. Advertising, anecdotes, and memes all point in that direction, showing customers waiting in line at an Apple Store for the latest model. For those of us who live near one or more of the 272 US Apple Stores, it makes sense,” CIRP says.
“In reality, carrier stores - AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile - actually dominate the market, accounting for two-thirds of US iPhone sales. Apple has a respectable but smaller share of total sales with roughly one quarter, while other retailers sell the remaining less than 10%.”
Needless to say, the numbers aren’t necessarily surprising, especially because carriers are also offering other subsidies, as well as buyback and trade-in programs for a wide variety of devices, other than Apple smartphones.