Apple’s iPhone 5S is seeing increased demand in recent months, according to an analyst. And the phenomenon could potentially be eating into Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sales.
Societe Generale analyst Andy Perkins told Business Insider:
There appears to have been a pick-up in demand for the older iPhone 5s model. Sales of this model increased from 10% of total units in Q1 FY15 to around 20% by Q2. This is unusual. Normally demand for older models never recovers once the new model is released … this observation remains slightly puzzling.
Notably, the 5S, an older phone with a smaller screen, sells for $100 less than the iPhone 6 and $200 less than the 6 Plus. That makes the increased interest in the 5S problematic for Apple because it makes less from the 5S. Per Business Insider:
The iPhone 6 had a bigger screen than the iPhone 5S, which led to a massive jump in sales. Apple doesn’t have another easy way to upgrade the phone to goose sales.
In January, Apple posted strong earnings of $3.06 per share on revenue of $74.6 billion. Analysts expected the company to post earnings of $2.60 per share on revenue of $67.9 billion.
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