A new iPhone is a big deal. That’s a given. People are going to queue up no matter what. But when iPhone sales outperform the already high expectations people have for them, that’s kinda interesting. During the opening weekend the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6+ combined managed to shift 10 million units. That’s a big number.
It’s actually the largest amount of units shifted by any mobile phone release ever.
For perspective, during the last major iPhone launch, the 5S and the 5C, Apple managed to sell 9 million in the same time period.
For me it kinda puts into perspective console sales, and the kind of audience Apple and the iOS store truly has at its disposal. The PlayStation 4 for example — which is going gangbusters by almost every possible measure and outperforming all expectations — passed the 10 million mark last month after being onsale for the better part of a year.
Obviously it’s apples and oranges, but it is interesting to see just how much larger the mobile phone market is compared to the console audience. These are brand new phones being launched into an eco-system that already exists and already has paying customers. These are just new phones being added to an increasingly enormous pile of already existing phones, owned by existing consumers who are spending money on a number of video games.
Pretty insane when you think about it.
Comments
21 responses to “The iPhone 6 Sells Beyond Most People’s Expectations. Including Apple.”
Yeah. Preordered the day the 6 Plus was released. It’s being delivered mid-late October… :-/
Damn. I preordered mine around 5.30pm on the 19th and I received it on relesse day at 8.30am.
I think it’ll be worth the wait though, my screen has a part that when slightly pressed you can here move up and down, and the home button doesn’t feel as solid as the iPhone 5(my previous phone). So hopefully they’ll have those small issues fixed soon.
Standard or Plus? Vodafone told me they weren’t accepting preorders for Plus.
The 6 Plus. I pre-ordered from Telstra. Got it on release day.
Why don’t you check the Apple reservation system daily, then go and pick one up? I checked Monday morning, and picked it up Monday afternoon (after a few days of checking).
Having said that, I will be returning my 6 Plus for a refund and getting the Note 4 instead.
And to think – they cost heaps more than the consoles!
In fairness most consoles get used around 2-3 hours a day, averaged week to week – unless you have a lot of free time you maybe do a couple hours a night (if any at all) and anything more is mostly on weekends. Phones last several years of constant usage, always passively sending and receiving signals, within arm’s reach 24/7 and ready to go at a moment’s notice. They’re a far more “essential” item in modern society (insofar as anything the isn’t wood, water or shelter can constitute “essential” in the heirarchy of needs).
The dollar to usage ratio, or “bang for your buck” is greater, even though the damn things go for 2-3 times the price of a new Xbox One or PS4.
I’d probably use my phone about 2-3 hours a day, averaged week to week… or less. I guess I do consider it more ‘essential’ than my consoles, but I’d definitely use my Vita more than my phone. So I’d say bang for buck is less for me personally.
Sure, if you buy them outright. The majority of people don’t do that though, they go onto a phone contract and spread the cost over 2 years.
I suspect there’d be a lot more console sales if you could do that.
I’d say even on a plan they might be more expensive…ain’t no such thing as a free lunch you know
Oh yeah, you end up paying a ton more on a plan. But you only pay a few dollars more every month.
Not that I plan on moving back to Apple smartphones, but boy does the 6 look sexy. Workmate’s arrived yesterday and it’s very sleek. It is pretty funny that all he keeps going on about is how big and awesome the screen is though. #welcometomyworld
Really cant compare the 2 at all. Even just a little bit. Different devices that do different things. The iPhone has sold an ass-tonne compared to other phones. Granted.
One device is a need and the other is a want. Not to mention the iSheep that have to have the newest device out. The life cycle of my PS4 will outlast that of the newest iPhone by 3 times if not more. Wait till the 6S or 6C variant come out next year or the year after. People will jump on that while i’ll still be playing on the same PS4
I’m going to go ahead and disagree that a smart phone is a ‘need’.
One could argue that having a phone in general is a need, (certainly more so than a console which is never really a need however you swing it) but a landline could service that need. All the other stuff that a smart phone does might be conveniently done by a phone, but may also be done by something else (like a filo-fax?). Getting a new smart phone everytime a new version becomes available is also another thing entirely.
Because people like the shiney.
Or people like great devices with innovative features.
Features that existed in other phones 2 years ago are not innovative. This is the one generation that Apple has followed the pack rather than leading it.
That’s a lot of sales. I’ll still maintain though that people are buying hype more than a top-range product. The one thing Apple has is that iOS is written for their own phones and can optimise it as much as possible whereas Android has a wide range of phones to be compatible with. The actual technology though as has been highlighted a lot is a year or two behind the competition.
The interesting thing I heard from a guy who’s job is Apple product support, in the launch queues the majority of people were Chinese who were getting ready to sell the phone for a profit in China as Apple didn’t get the licences required to sell the phone themselves, but with the amount of wealth in China there’s been a massive demand for the phone. I wouldn’t know the numbers, but there’s probably a not-insignificant number of phones currently being sent by airmail to Asia right now.
Samsung I feel have mistimed their release of the Note 4 though. Despite announcing it a few days before the iPhone was released, it’s still not available for another month yet (in Australia at least). If they’d’ve gotten it out before the iPhone they’d’ve had the chance to sway a few people on board.
Out of interest, what is your criteria for something to qualify as ‘top range’?
I couldn’t agree more. It really goes without saying for apple products these days. I’m not saying they are not decent phones that may be the best fit for many people, but through my anecdotal observations, I don’t think people put as much thought or research their next phone purchase as much as say, their next dishwasher purchase. I certainly am not hearing about people pre-orderdering for the next biggest Miele washing machine release.
There’s ‘buying into hype’, and there is is deliberate complacency. Most people I know don’t WANT to care about researching technology. Continuing to upgrade to products in a line you already trust makes sense. I know nothing about cars, but my next car I’ll get is a Honda because I have no complaints about the Honda I have now and I’m not interested in caring. Some of us are interested in the details of technology, but we shouldn’t assume everyone does or should 🙂
Let me just leave this here…
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/bendgate-apple-iphone-6-plus-found-bending-in-pants-pockets-20140924-10l5qm.html
One big difference is the gender market. It’s safe to say that the predominant market for PS4’s are males, whereas mobile phones are fairly equal for both genders.
While I don’t disagree that console market share my be disproportional, I think another large cosideration is that a console tends to be more like a one per household item for the most part, rather than a mobile phone which is one per person.