Analyst: iPhone 8 and 8 Plus accounted for 16% of all US iPhone sales in the past quarter, compared to 43% for 7 and 7 Plus during the same period last year
Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac :
Context & Ripple Effects
The 16% figure lands mid-launch-cycle: the iPhone 8 pair went on sale in September, but the data CIRP released in December showed the iPhone X capturing roughly 30% of US sales in its own first 30 days — consistent with buyers holding off on the cheaper new models to wait for the flagship. Canalys' Q3 numbers point the same direction, with 11.9M iPhone 8 and 8 Plus units shipped versus 14M iPhone 7 units the year before.
Ben Lovejoy's read at 9to5Mac frames this as a mix story rather than a demand collapse: the same quarter a year earlier had no higher-priced alternative pulling buyers upmarket, so the 7-generation absorbed nearly all launch interest.
First-order effects
- Apple's launch-quarter revenue mix shifts toward the $999-and-up iPhone X, since the 8 pair's 16% share means most early upgraders chose either the X or an older discounted model instead of the year's 'standard' iPhones.
Second-order effects
- Carriers and channel partners stocking the 8 generation face slower initial sell-through than the 7 did, pushing promotional weight toward the X and toward clearing 7-series inventory.
Third-order effects
- If every cycle now splits demand between a premium flagship and a cheaper companion launch, Apple's lineup strategy hardens into flagship-carries-the-mix — a pattern later CIRP data on the XR taking 39% of US sales and the 12 mini managing only 6% keeps confirming.
The trend: US iPhone demand is concentrating in whichever model sits at the top of each year's lineup, shrinking the launch share of the standard-tier models Apple ships alongside it.