Overall iPhone sales down 20 YoY in November: Counterpoint Research

Highlights: Overall iPhone sales down by 20% year-on-year in November. iPhone XR 64GB was the best-selling device of the lot in November. The cumulative sale of iPhone XS Max was 50% higher than that of iPhone X in the month. The sales of new iPhones (XR/XS/XS MAX) in November were down over 20 percent as compared to last year’s iPhone launches (8/8 Plus/X) even as the iPhone XR series outsold its powerful peers, Counterpoint Research has said. The market research firm notes that the 64GB variant of the iPhone XR became the best-selling iPhone during the month. The news comes a few days after Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a “letter to investors” warning lower than expected performance for the first quarter of fiscal 2019. “iPhone XR became the best-selling iPhone model in November 2018. In contrast, last year in November the more expensive iPhone X was the best-selling model with almost 50 percent higher volume compared to the iPhone XR in November this year. The overall sales of new iPhones took a hit in November due to slower sales of the series in the Asia Pacific region (excluding China and India), Europe and US,” Shobhit Srivastava, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said in a blog. The firm ascribed the lengthening replacement cycle and decreased operator discounts during the launch of new iPhones this year as the main reasons for the sales decline in the US and Europe. The decline in emerging markets like the Asia Pacific (excluding China and India) is claimed to be due to the higher price when compared to the pricing of the offerings from Chinese smartphone players. If compared handset-wise, sales of the iPhone XR compared to the sales of iPhone 8 were down five percent. These handsets are compared because they were the cheapest iPhones available during the month of their respective launches. Similarly, iPhone XS sales, when compared to iPhone 8 Plus, were up three percent Year-on-Year. The iPhone XS Max sales, when compared to iPhone X during the same month last year registered a whopping 46 percent decline in sales. Silver lining: The cumulative sale of iPhone XS Max was 50 percent higher till November than that of iPhone X last year due to the early availability of the higher priced models this year. The sales in China were steady during November because the popular 11.11 (Single’s Day) sales, however, the sales of iPhone XR remained lower than expected due to a lack of innovative features and just one camera. While it’s the cheapest new iPhone, it still is expensive compared to local competitor products. (Read our Review of iPhone XR). Related Read: Apple CEO Tim Cook dismisses idea of cheap iPhones for India

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