iPhone US installed base continues to plateau, data shows

May 17, 2019 08:21 GMT  ·  By

The iPhone installed base in the United States barely improved in the quarter ending in March, with data provided by CIRP showing that Apple improved from 189 million in December to 193 million units.

This means Apple’s iPhone has posted a growth of 2% quarter-over-quarter and 12% year-over-year, albeit CIRP warns that the US installed base of the iPhone continues to plateau.

Living proof are the figures achieved by Apple last year when the company recorded a growth of 4% over the previous quarter and 19% year-over-year.

“The US installed base of iPhones continues to plateau,” said Josh Lowitz, CIRP Partner and Co-Founder. “Relative to the most recent quarters, and especially to the past two or three years, slowing unit sales and longer ownership periods means that the growth in the number of US iPhones has flattened considerably.”

Lower than anticipated sales

While iPhone’s growth has clearly slowed down, CIRP says it’s critical for Apple to try to compensate for these figures in non-US markets, even though this would obviously be very difficult due to similar or even worse market conditions, as it’s the case of China.

“Of course, 12% growth in a year, after years of much greater growth is still good. However, investors grew accustomed to quarterly growth of 5% or more, and annual growth of almost 20%. This continuing trend prompts investors to wonder if iPhone sales outside of the US will compensate, and places greater pressure on Apple’s determination to sell other products and services to the installed base of iPhone owners,” Lowitz notes.

Apple no longer reveals how many iPhones it sells every quarter, but the company earlier this year revised its expectations, confirming lower sales worldwide. Apple will launch a new-generation iPhone in September, with three models planned for 2019, one of which could be a direct successor to the iPhone XR.