iPhone 7 and 7 Plus still rule the roost in U.S. sales

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The iPhone 7 is continuing to be a massive money maker for Apple.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Excitement for the forthcoming iPhone 8 may be continuing to build, but the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are still holding strong in the sales department.

According to new figures released by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, the two current generation iPhone models were the top two smartphones in the U.S., in terms of sales, for the three months ending in May.

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus accounted for 20.1 percent of U.S. sales; more than doubling the 8.1 percent of the Samsung S7 and S7 edge. The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus meanwhile reached a combined 8.1 percent of the sales market share. Even combined, that means that Apple dispatches its Samsung rivals’ flagship handsets.

In all, iOS accounted for 36.5 percent of U.S. smartphone sales for the three month period. That’s a 5.8 percentage point increase over the same period one year earlier.

Things were more mixed in China, which Tim Cook has been outspoken about calling Apple’s future biggest market. In urban China, iOS share for the three months ending in April fell to 16.2 percent year-on-year — which is down 3.8 percentage points from the same period in 2017. That’s not great news, but it’s up from the 12.4 percent market share Apple held in the first quarter of 2017.

“iPhone 7 and 7 Plus sales recovered slightly, now representing 8.5 percent of smartphones sold in the region, outpacing both Huawei and Oppo models,” said Tamsin Timpson, Strategic Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia.

It will be interesting to see what impact the eagerly-anticipated iPhone 8 — which Tim Cook has suggested is suppressing iPhone 7 sales — will have on sales, come fall.

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