Apple's iPhone Sees Favorable Mix Shift In Q3, Retail Store Sales Improve: Report

Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares are on a record run thanks to the momentum imparted by optimistic iPhone expectations.

The following are takeaways on how the company's flagship product may have fared in the third quarter courtesy of early data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

Apple Rockets Out Of Pandemic: Apple has emerged stronger out of the COVID-19 pandemic, leveraging increased consumer spending, CIRP said. Among the key takeaways are higher ASP for iPhones and increased buying from Apple's retail locations, the firm said.

High-End Models Are Fast Movers: The four models of the iPhone 12 series accounted for about 63% of the total iPhone sales in the U.S. in the third quarter, the firm said.

In comparison, the iPhone 11 models accounted for about 65% of the total U.S. sales in the third quarter of 2020, it added.

iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 11 had the largest share at 23% each in the 2021 third quarter. The iPhone 12 mini and iPhone XR had the smallest share at 5% each.

The weighted average retail price of the iPhone in the U.S. was at $869 in the June quarter, up from under $800 in the year-ago quarter.

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Age Of Retired Phone Declines: About 37% of the buyers held onto their phones for two years or less, and 30% of buyers had their previous phones for three years or more in the June quarter, the research firm said. This compares to 35% and 34%, respectively for the 12 months ended in the March quarter.

Apple Retail Locations Sought After: With the reopening, Apple retail locations increased their share of total sales to 27% in the June quarter compared to 14% for the March quarter, according to CIRP data.

Carriers sold about 66% of total iPhone units in the June quarter compared to 77% in the March quarter.

"Apple did very well as it emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic," said Josh Lowitz, CIRP partner and co-founder.
"Increased consumer spending correlated with consumers shifting to more expensive iPhone models as they retired older phones and shopped more at Apple's own retail locations to buy those iPhones. As a consequence, we estimate that US-WARP, the analogue to Average Selling Price that Apple no longer discloses, rose in the quarter."

At last check, Apple shares were down 0.96% at $147.72.

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