CIRP: iPhone XR accounted for 39% of US iPhone sales last quarter, making it the best selling iPhone model, while XS and XS Max combined accounted for 26%
Alex Allegro / 9to5Mac :
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple built the XR as the affordable third leg of a lineup anchored by the iPhone X, which had taken roughly 30% of US sales in its first 30 days. When early XR demand drew skepticism, product marketing VP Greg Joswiak publicly insisted it had been Apple's most popular iPhone every day since launch. CIRP's quarterly split finally puts numbers behind that claim: the XR at 39% of US sales, ahead of the XS and XS Max combined at 26%.
First-order effects
- Apple's US revenue mix tilts toward its cheapest new model — the XR alone out-sells the two flagships combined (39% vs 26%) — putting downward pressure on average selling price even where unit volumes hold.
- The data retroactively validates Joswiak's pushback against XR demand worries: the contested model is the one carrying the quarter.
Second-order effects
- With the XR owning the volume slot, the XS pair is left competing mainly for upgraders willing to pay flagship prices, sharpening the question of how much premium Apple's next top-tier models can sustain without ceding more share to the base model.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Apple's lineup structurally splits into a high-volume affordable base and a smaller premium tier — a split already visible later when the iPhone 12 line took 61% of US sales while the mini lagged behind even the SE and XR, and the Pro Max carried a disproportionate 23% share (63% total for the line in Q3)
- Model-level mix data from firms like CIRP becomes the key lens for reading Apple's real price ladder each quarter, since headline unit counts increasingly hide which tier actually sells.
The trend: Flagship smartphone lineups are splitting into a high-volume affordable base model and a lower-volume premium tier, making sales mix — not just units — the metric that determines Apple's revenue per device.