Apple’s New iPhone Release Schedule Seems to Pay Off
Horace Dediu, tweeting yesterday on Apple’s results: iPhone grew at 17% sales which is amazing considering they did not launch the 18 or the Duo or the new Air in the quarter. The Duo didn’t launch until October, which is Q1 (in Apple’s financial calendar). And the Air, last year, was not a big seller ( putting it lightly ). The big bet Apple made this year was postponing the regular iPhone 18…
Apple's recent iPhone release schedule appears to be paying off, according to Horace Dediu's analysis of the company's results. The iPhone sales grew by 17%, which is remarkable considering the company did not launch the iPhone 18, the Duo, or the new Air during this quarter. These products were not introduced until October, placing them in Q1 of Apple's financial calendar, and the Air has historically been a modest seller.
Apple's primary strategy this year was to postpone the regular iPhone 18 until the end of winter, early the following year. While the pro models, Pro and Pro Max, collectively outperform the regular iPhone each year, the non-pro iPhone is Apple's top-selling model. Dediu contends that the mainstream consumers are not concerned with the five or six-month delay between the regular iPhone 18 and its successors, and this pattern will likely persist in subsequent iPhone releases, such as the 19, 20, 21, and so on.
Another contributing factor is that the recently reported quarter began in July, just after Apple raised prices on most of its major products, excluding the iPhone. It is conceivable that this quarter's sales were influenced by individuals purchasing older iPhone 17 models in anticipation of the price increase with the new models in September. However, it is challenging to attribute the 17 percent growth in sales year-over-year to this strategy alone.
Some tech enthusiasts bought iPhone 17 Pros in August, convinced that they would save money by opting for the older model instead of investing in a slightly upgraded 18 Pro. However, general consumers are unlikely to be as well-informed about Apple's release schedule. There are over a billion iPhone users globally, and at least one billion of them are unaware that Apple traditionally holds an iPhone introduction event in early September.
We cannot conclusively label this new launch schedule a success until we observe the outcomes in late February or early March when Apple releases the iPhone 18, 18e, and Air 2. At present, it seems like a victory for Apple.
Written by urgent.news from Daring Fireball's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
