Largely due to the coronavirus pandemic, Apple was forced to split its four-model iPhone 12 family in two for commercial availability purposes, releasing the “standard” and the Pro variants on October 23, followed by the Mini and the Pro Max on November 13, 2020.
Right off the bat, that made it pretty tricky to compare the initial popularity of the company’s first-ever 5G-capable handset lineup with that of 2019’s 4G LTE-only iPhone 11 roster, especially given the fact the latter included just three main models.
That number is up from 69 percent, which was the combined sales share of the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max in the same respective “period after their launch” back in 2019. Interestingly, however, the 6.1-inch non-Pro iPhone 12 couldn’t match the incredible initial success of the 6.1-inch non-Pro iPhone 11, sitting at a 27 percent share compared to a towering 39 percent.
That’s good news for Apple’s bottom line, mind you, since it means the pricier iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max proved significantly more popular (relative to the total US iPhone sales, at least) than the 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max.
In fact, the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max were found to be almost as successful as the “regular” iPhone 12, which also means the 12 Mini flopped hard, at least during its first few weeks of US availability.
While that no longer comes as a surprise, it’s still heartbreaking to see the diminutive 5.4-inch high-end iPhone so many people showed (theoretical) interest in racking up a modest 6 percent of post-launch sales. In case you’re wondering how bad that is, let’s just say the iPhone 12 mini was barely capable of outselling the ancient iPhone XR and the second-gen SE. Yikes!
