How Apple's commitment to software upgrades for older iPhones allowed the company to capture a part of the US market once cornered by inexpensive Android phones
Context & Ripple Effects
The Wall Street Journal's argument closes a loop that opened years earlier: after iPhone sales first overtook Android's in the US back in 2015, the question was whether Apple could hold share below the flagship price tier, where inexpensive Android phones had long owned the customer.
The mechanism the paper describes is cumulative — the iPhone Upgrade Program moved the primary customer relationship from carriers to Apple, and Apple devices now dominate the trade-in stream that feeds refurbishers like US Mobile Phones — so an old iPhone stays secure, resellable, and in circulation rather than migrating its owner back to cheap Android.
First-order effects
- Inexpensive Android handset makers lose their core US pitch — a cheap new phone beats an unusable old one — because multi-year iOS updates keep used iPhones functional in exactly the price tier where they compete.
Second-order effects
- Apple gains twice from the same buyer: the upgrade cycle feeds the refurbishment channel where its devices dominate trade-ins, so each new iPhone sale also seeds future low-end demand that never reaches an Android OEM.
Third-order effects
- If software longevity keeps deciding entry-level purchases, US smartphone competition shifts from upfront hardware pricing to update commitments and resale value — structural advantages that favor Apple and force Android vendors into a support-arms race they have historically not run.
The trend: In mature markets like the US, smartphone share at the low end is increasingly decided by software-support lifespans and resale ecosystems rather than sticker price.