iPhone 15 ruled global smartphone sales, will iPhone 16 hold the throne?

Apple’s iPhone 15 was the world’s best-selling smartphone in Q3, says fresh data from Counterpoint. But it was closely followed in the top sales stakes by an upstart company called Apple, which also sold the second and third biggest selling smartphones in the quarter.

 Hold the line

The iPhone 15 was followed closely by the iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro, Counterpoint said. “In a first for a third quarter, half of the total iPhone sales were contributed by iPhone Pro Series variants.” Apple took four of the top ten sales slots, just behind Samsung which took five. Xiaomi took one.

The analysts agree that consumers now prefer to get hold of a high-end smartphone when they can, which is gradually narrowing the market share gap between the iPhone’s base and Pro variants. But this trend is also impacting developing markets, where consumers also prefer to get the best device they can afford to buy.

“Consumers are opting for the latest iPhones, especially in emerging markets, which further contributes to Apple’s higher-value sales,” said the analysts. Purchasers are making use of attractive financing schemes and trade-in offers to upgrade. Those make the latest iPhones more accessible to a broader range of income brackets, they said.

Will iPhone 16 hold the throne?

Apple hasn’t said too much yet about how well iPhone 16 is selling. The biggest insight was given during its recent financial call when the company reported $46.2b in iPhones sales, up from $43.8b in the same quarter last year. “iPhone grew in every geographic segment, marking a new September quarter revenue record for the category,” said Cook. “The iPhone active installed base grew to a new all-time high in total and in every geographic segment,” said outgoing CFO, Luca Maestri.

Apple also told is that “During the September quarter, many iPhone models were among the top-selling smartphones around the world. In fact, according to a survey from Kantar, iPhone was the top-selling model in the U.S., urban China, the U.K., Australia, and Japan.” It must be noted that this good news also includes sales of iPhone 15 models as the new addition was only available a very short time in the quarter.

So, while the signs seem positive it is difficult to know for certain – though analysts as ever are speculating that sales may not be growing at the rate they want them to be. Even if that is the case, Apple will still be selling millions of its devices – and as Morgan Stanley pointed out, Apple returned sales numbers 2 points ahead of consensus expectation in the just gone quarter, so it’s plausible these concerns are somewhat over-baked.

However, the introduction of Apple Intelligence and the phased approach to feature delivery hints that the company has created a really good lever for future marketing attempts as it tries to maintain interest in the device. In other words, the concern outweighs the reality, which suggests Apple’s iPhone 16 will hold Apple’s market throne.

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