A ‘staggering’ number of people bought new iPhones last quarter—analysts explain why, and whether it’ll happen again soon

Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner known as his firm’s current iPhone gross sales surge “merely staggering” on Thursday. What was behind the iPhone 17 household’s profitable debut? Analysts have a number of theories.

The corporate topped Wall Road’s expectations in the newest quarter, posting $143.76 billion in complete income for the interval that included a 23% year-over-year bump in gross sales of its signature smartphone. “It was a improbable quarter for iPhone with an all-time income report of $85.3 billion,” Cook dinner mentioned on the decision. “That is the strongest iPhone lineup we have ever had and, by far, the most well-liked. All through the quarter, buyer enthusiasm for iPhone was merely extraordinary.”

Apple’s sturdy outcomes do not essentially imply that clients are completed holding onto their older smartphones for years at a time, a development enabled by the tech’s growing sturdiness. Practically half of U.S. iPhone customers now maintain onto their smartphones for 3 years or longer, based on a September report by CIRP, which tracks information on iPhone patrons by means of buyer surveys. That number was 24% simply 5 years in the past, notes analyst Josh Lowitz, a accomplice and co-founder at Shopper Intelligence Analysis Companions.

Quite, the elevated iPhone income on the finish of 2025 possible stems from elements like Apple’s up to date pricing methods and backlogged demand from the various clients who last bought new iPhones through the Covid-19 pandemic, Lowitz says.

“Gross sales had been very sturdy through the pandemic as a result of people weren’t spending on eating places and journey, and there was lots of cash floating round. Now, the pandemic telephone patrons have 4-plus-year-old telephones,” says Lowitz. These people had been merely “due” for upgrades, which helped spur the elevated demand, he says.

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Wedbush analyst Dan Ives agrees: “The iPhone 17 has virtually been a sleepy shock improve cycle,” due partially to the “pent-up demand” of an estimated 315 million iPhone customers worldwide who hadn’t upgraded their smartphones in additional than 4 years, based on Wedbush’s estimates.

As for Apple’s pricing methods, Lowitz notes that Apple streamlined its choices by discontinuing fashions older than the iPhone 16 line. Customers usually like to purchase the middle-of-the-road alternative when introduced with a number of choices, and by limiting the choices, Apple functionally turned the usual iPhone 17 into that center choice, Lowitz says.

From there, the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max weren’t prohibitively costly sufficient — in comparison with the usual iPhone 17, anyway — to dissuade clients from splurging, says Lowitz. Apple’s newest premium-priced Professional and Professional Max smartphones accounted for 52% of U.S. iPhone gross sales throughout the newest quarter, based on CIRP’s estimate.

Plus, the telephones themselves have largely been positively reviewed and properly acquired amongst shoppers as high-quality items of expertise, says Lowitz.

The telephones’ improved high quality could also be a double-edged sword for Apple’s future gross sales, Lowitz says. Notably if new iPhone options solely get “incrementally higher” within the coming years, clients are unlikely to repeat the current surge in iPhone gross sales anytime soon, he suggests.

But when Apple can create completely new or dramatically improved iPhone options — doubtlessly together with synthetic intelligence software program or a foldable iPhone that is reportedly in improvement — then the corporate can repeat its success within the fast future, says Ives.

“For Apple, it is more durable and more durable to give you a {hardware} improve cycle that is going to excite clients,” Ives says. “All of it comes right down to AI, so clients have kind of been on this ready sport.”

On the Thursday name, Cook dinner touted a deliberate partnership with Google on upgraded AI options for Apple’s Siri digital assistant, which he mentioned will probably be launched later this 12 months. Apple additionally introduced the acquisition of Q.ai, an Israeli AI startup.

Ives’ prediction: Apple’s clients will maintain spending, not less than within the quick time period. “I believe these are going to all play into an improve cycle that I believe goes to proceed for Apple for the following 12 to 18 months,” he says.

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