Apple’s share of new phone activations in the States has been declining
The report says that the combination of increased durability and fewer new features has resulted in smartphone owners, especially those owning an iPhone, waiting longer to upgrade. Also helping this trend was the move from two-year subsidized contracts to financed phone payment plans.
Explaining why it uses trailing 12-month data to make quarterly comparisons, CIRP said, “We estimate 12-month periods ending each quarter, using our quarterly survey of mobile phone customers. This allows us to capture all phone activations, rather than just Apple iPhone, and looking at trailing 12-month periods eliminates seasonality caused by new phone launches, gift giving, etc.”
Outside of the nerdiest of phone nerds and the biggest phone enthusiasts, very few consumers upgrade every year-or even every two years-for the latest camera technology or the fastest new chipset produced with the most current process node. Many consumers wait until their phone no longer works before buying a new one. And as CIRP pointed out, the durability of smartphones is on the rise while the vast majority of phone financing deals lock you into a 36-month contract.
