Apple's active shipping of eight iPhone models during the holiday season has led to some interesting data, with the fall 2017 releases outselling older models nearly two to one.
According to a Consumer Intelligence Research Partners of 500 iPhone buyers between October and December, 24 percent of purchasers picked up the iPhone 8, with the iPhone 8 Plus accounting for 17 percent of buys. The iPhone X held 20 percent of iPhone buyers in the two months it was available in the survey period, with every other model including the iPhone 6 family and iPhone SE holding down 39 percent.
CIRP maintains that comparing 2017 with 2016 remains difficult, for multiple reasons.
"Comparisons to earlier launches are tricky at best. First, iPhone X wasnt available for the full quarter. The Apple model pie is further divided, as they now offer eight models, the most ever," write CIRP co-founder Josh Lowitz. "Apple launched the new phones on a different schedule, announcing three new models at once, but delaying the launch of the most advanced and expensive one, iPhone X, for five weeks following the launch of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus."
One of CIRP's survey months was in October -- the month before the iPhone X was available. This could skew the data in favor of non-iPhone X models as well, given the data spans three months of purchases, and not just the two that the iPhone X could be bought.
Other data suggests that in the US, the iPhone X was surpassed by the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus during the holidays -- with the sales figures notably collected after the iPhone X launch.