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Apple's iPhone XR was the best-selling iPhone in the US last quarter

By Joshua Swingle

Published: Apr 24, 2019, 11:39 AM

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Apple's iPhone XR was the best-selling iPhone in the US last quarter

Although iPhone sales haven’t been living up to Apple’s expectations lately, a recent CIRP report revealed that iPhones were the best-selling devices in the US throughout the first quarter of 2019. And now a new report has revealed which model was the most popular.

The iPhone XR outsold the iPhone XS & XS Max combined

For the second quarter running, the iPhone XR was the best-selling individual iPhone model in the United States. It accounted for 38% of all US iPhone sales throughout the recent quarter and outsold both the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max combined by a factor of almost 2:1 – the iPhone XS series accounted for just 21% of sales.

The remaining 41% of sales were distributed between the iPhone 8 and iPhone 7 lineups. The iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone 7 were the most popular among these, while the iPhone 8 followed closely behind. The iPhone 7 Plus was the least popular by a significant margin, but still managed to sell in numbers that are comparable to those of the iPhone XS.

The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max

During the fourth quarter of 2018, the sales of higher storage tiers are understood to have boosted Apple’s average selling price (ASP) to new heights. But as interest in these devices declined and the iPhone XR became the dominant device, CIRP believes the ASP of iPhones dropped to around $800 last quarter.

Samsung could soon overtake Apple with the Galaxy S10

Looking at the second quarter of 2019, the iPhone XR is expected to continue dominating. However, iPhone sales as a whole could lose some ground to Samsung who recently launched the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+, and Galaxy S10e.

During the first quarter the two brands were neck and neck – Apple held a 36% market share while Samsung accounted for 34% of sales – but during this current quarter iPhone sales are set to continue declining while Samsung should finally feel the full effect of the Galaxy S10’s popularity.

Although Samsung is yet to release official sales figures, its latest flagship smartphones are reportedly outselling last year’s Galaxy S9 lineup by a small margin. Apparently, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ sales are on par with those of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, while the smaller Galaxy S10e is essentially providing a nice boost to Samsung’s total unit sales.

Samsung Galaxy S10 series

According to estimates, the Galaxy S10 trio will ship a combined total of 10 million units by the end of this quarter on a global scale. It’s unclear, however what percentage of these will be from the US.

How will the two brands perform moving forward?

Continuing into the third quarter of the year, it seems likely that Samsung will continue to dominate the smartphone market. iPhone sales should continue to drop, while Galaxy S10 sales will have lost steam too. However, the South Korean brand is rumored to be preparing a Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10 Pro that’ll help boost its performance significantly.

As for the final quarter of the year, Samsung is expected to return its crown to Apple once again. The latter should release its latest iPhones towards the very end of the third quarter in September, with the full effect of sales being noticeable during the final three months of the year.

This year, rumors suggest Apple’s iPhone XS and XS Max replacements will adopt triple-camera setups, smaller notches, reverse wireless charging, and a number of other features. The iPhone XR’s successor, on the other hand, should benefit from two rear cameras, Apple’s next-gen processor, and potentially an upgraded screen.

All three smartphones should ship with iOS 13 straight out of the box. This will introduce a dedicated Dark Mode and a number of other features which are detailed in this article.