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Most People Have No Interest in Buying iPhone 7

By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
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By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 12, 2016, 8:09 AM ET

Apple might have some trouble getting customers interested in buying its new smartphone, new data from research firm Morning Consult shows.

Just 10% of current smartphone owners say that they are “very likely” to buy the iPhone 7 once it hits store shelves, while 15% of respondents said that they are “somewhat likely” to pick up Apple’s latest handset. A whopping 50% of those surveyed and had at least seen, read, or heard about the new iPhone, say that are “very unlikely” to buy the iPhone 7.

Nearly 2,000 people were surveyed in the poll, which was conducted between Sept. 6 and Sept. 8. Seventy-eight percent of respondents owned a smartphone. Out of that group, 60% of respondents owned Android phones and about 37% were existing iPhone owners.

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Apple (AAPL) unveiled the iPhone 7 at a press event last week. The smartphone comes with a slightly enhanced design and brand-new internal components that Apple says, will deliver better performance than any iPhone that came before it. The iPhone 7 Plus, which has a 5.5-inch screen, also comes with a dual-lens camera for better picture taking. Following earlier rumors, the iPhone 7 line features two speaker grills, replacing the headphone jack that had been available to iPhone owners since the first Apple smartphone launched in 2007.

The loss of a headphone jack has been criticized for being a major reason Apple might have trouble selling its handset. However, the Morning Consult data shows that most people don’t care that the iPhone 7 doesn’t come with a headphone jack. In fact, 28% of the survey’s respondents indicated that they might be more likely to purchase the iPhone 7 because it doesn’t have a headphone port. More than four in 10 respondents said it made no difference to them whether the iPhone 7 has a headphone jack or not.

In addition to the headphone jack, customers said they’d be more likely to buy the iPhone 7 if it’s thinner than its predecessor, was waterproof, and had a longer battery life. Apple was quick to note at its press event last week that the iPhone 7 has the longest battery life of any smartphone it’s ever launched.

headphones

Still, despite seemingly hitting the right notes, the iPhone 7 doesn’t have the kind of momentum that even last year’s iPhone 6s had. A Morning Consult spokeswoman told Fortune in a statement that last September, 33% of respondents to the survey said they would likely buy the iPhone 6s, easily topping the 25% of those who said they were likely to buy an iPhone 7.

What’s unclear, though, is why consumers are so far not as impressed by the iPhone 7. It’s possible that they had expected bigger and better things from Apple this year and didn’t get it. The results could also illustrate ongoing softness in the smartphone market in developed countries and somewhat waning interest in Apple’s iPhone. Indeed, 2016 is the first year that Apple has been forced to announce that iPhone sales slid year over year—and it’s done so in its last two reported fiscal quarters.

But alas, not all is lost for Apple. The company’s preorder day on Friday went off without a hitch and its early supply of all iPhone 7 models quickly sold out, pushing shipment dates back as far as mid-November just an hour or so after preorders began.

Perhaps most important, the Morning Consult data shows interest in the iPhone at first blush. As time goes on, people start seeing the iPhone 7 in action, and realize that the features they want, like a longer battery life, and (some) waterproofing features are present, they might be more likely to buy an iPhone 7.

Along the way, they seemingly won’t mind Apple has decided to eliminate the headphone jack in favor of an adapter and wireless technology.

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By Don Reisinger
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