Apple Could Be Selling More iPhones To Seniors

ALTERNATE TITLE: iPhone Sales Could Be Rising With Seniors Apple Inc. AAPL seems to be winning over a new demographic: senior citizens. The Cupertino, California-based tech giant is known for targeting young, modern consumers, but Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry is seeing an uptick in sales to seniors. "Almost 20 to 25 percent of people who are buying iPhones over the last month or month and a half are senior citizens," Chowdhry told Benzinga. While normal iPhone users might be entirely comfortable with the touch environment, Chowdhry said that seniors are "very comfortable" with having at least one physical button -- primarily the "home" button. "They feel that a 'home' button…is something that [works] well," said Chowdhry. "These guys are coming from a feature phone. I think if Apple believes every Apple user was also a user in 2007, I think they will alienate the new customers who are very senior people who are coming in." In addition to emerging markets and users who switch from Android to iOS, Chowdhry believes that "most of the growth" will come from seniors who are replacing their feature phones with iPhones.

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Ready To Mass Produce?

Apple expert Sean Udall (@UdallTechStrat) thinks the technology is there for Apple to place Touch ID underneath the screen and get rid of the "home" button. "I do think the technology is there," Udall, who serves as the CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies and author of The TechStrat Report, told Benzinga. "Is the technology ready to produce 50-60 million phones a quarter? Can they produce it in the units they're selling now? That's a huge challenge." By eliminating the "home" button, Apple could add a bigger screen or reduce the phone's overall length. "You just get more screen space," said Udall. "You get a wider screen. And you just pick up some more screen viewable area that the 'home' button is taking up right now." Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group, is surprised Apple hasn't already eliminated the "home" button. "Anything mechanical drives up support costs, so having Apple move away from a mechanical interface makes a lot of sense," Enderle told Benzinga. "It's dollars and cents to them, it's more reliable, you can use haptics and it does not wear out. That's an obvious fix. I'm surprised they haven't done it by now."

'Home' Replacements

Chowdhry doesn't expect Apple to ditch the "home" button anytime soon, but he has a few ideas for a replacement. "Could it just be a spot or just a location or a gesture to take you back?" Chowdhry questioned. "Those are all open. But I do think there will be some models that will always have a 'home' button." Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.