Roger Fingas
The first weekend of iPhone 7 sales seems to have been on track with past iPhone launches, despite Apple's decision not to announce official numbers, according to early analytics data.
The iPhone 7 achieved 1 percent adoption in Localytics tracking of iPhones, with the 7 Plus accounting for another 0.2 percent. That's roughly equivalent to what the iPhone 6s line achieved in Sept. 2015, the only difference being greater adoption of the 6s Plus at 0.3 percent.
The iPhone 6 managed 2 percent in Sept. 2014, with the 6 Plus coming in at 0.3. 2013's iPhone 5s — which didn't have a Plus model — hit 0.9 percent during its launch weekend.
Localytics commented that real-world iPhone 7 sales could be significantly higher, since its data only reflects the number of people who already have a device and are using apps. Delivery times for online preorders quickly extended into weeks or even months, an Apple took the unusual step of saying that some models wouldn't be available at stores on launch day.
Meanwhile, upgrades of existing iPhones and iPads to iOS 10 appear to be flattening out. While Mixpanel indicated that adoption hit nearly 15 percent in the first 24 hours, after six days, iOS 10 was sitting at 26 percent — slightly lower than what iOS 8 and 9 achieved in similar timeframes.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
27 Comments
I'd like to see Weekend 2 numbers. Tons of Jet Black being shipped this week that will be activated (including mine, which arrives Wed or Thu!).(Off-topic: I had something weird happen for the first time ever, with an Apple product shipment. I took advantage of the ATT promo to return my son's 6 for a free 7. The Fedex 'delivery' arrived last Friday, but there was a peculiar note from the delivery guy: it said, "go to the Fedex office to pick it up". I did, the person at the Fedex office brought over my box: it was opened..... with no phone inside! I was told that "...it probably fell off." I've been wasting time with ATT and Fedex these past couple of days, and finally they told me that a new one will be on its way in "7-10 days.")
I think that data will be much better once all of the people who are preordered and reserved actually receive their devices. But since those numbers probably won't count towards opening weekend numbers, I guess it won't matter much. Still, not bad sales figures for a device that isn't even widely available.
And for iOS 10 adoption rates, those numbers are crazy impressive. To have over a 1/4 of your installed worldwide user base all on the newest version in under a week has to say something about Apple's software. That's roughly 260,000,000 devices in less than 7 days. The real story should be that Apple can sustain these numbers year after year despite a rapidly growing user base.
A similar "data eduction" was made last September with the 6S. The % of users for a new handset is only relevant if there is a 1-for-1 trade in. When the user base grows at 45% the way it did with the 6, the next year's number will likely be a smaller % compared to previous launches.
I pre-ordered my iphone 7+ just I did was iphone6/5/4/3G, right at the beginning of pre-order every time, but for the first time ever, I don't have a new iPhone in my hand... and yes, they charged my credit card... so sales is technically 'through' (iphone has been en-route since Friday).