TechCrunch:
As of 4 PM Pacific, the iPhone 6 accounts for about 2.45% of the devices MixPanel is seeing in use. The iPhone 6 Plus, meanwhile, makes up just 0.31%. Everything else (that is, every previous generation of iPhone MixPanel still sees in the wild) makes up the other 97.24%.
This data is pulled from mobile analytics firm MixPanel (subscription).
It’ll be interesting to watch this graph over the next few days; on day one, at least, the margin between the two devices seems to just be getting bigger and bigger. Given that both devices are widely sold out, this could also imply that Apple made way more 6s than 6 Plus. If that’s the case, will the gap close as Apple becomes able to meet demand… or will most would-be 6 Plus owners have given in and bought a 6?
Or is it simply that the much larger size is still emerging as an acquired taste, that the iPhone 6 is already a step in a new direction for most buyers? It’s interesting to note that we no longer have a smaller form factor as an option. When the iPhone 5 was introduced, the shorter iPhone 4 form factor no longer sold through the traditional channels.
When the iPhone 6 was released, the iPhone 5s was not updated. Presumably, over time, the iPhone 5s form factor will disappear and the iPhone 6 will become the new normal. As users acclimate to this new standard size, and as more and more Android users make their way across the divide, I suspect the iPhone 6 Plus will gather momentum.
I think the limited supply also factors into this. Many people i know want the 6 Plus, but they will not have it for weeks, while those wanting the regular 6, have them now.
It’s far more likely that this is distorted by the widely-reported and evident supply issues with the 6 plus.
6+ is going to China and eBay, it takes time to show up webservers.
Scalpers aren’t dumb. They will focus on limited item to drive up the price.
“When the iPhone 6 was released, the iPhone 5s was not updated. Presumably, over time, the iPhone 5s form factor will disappear and the iPhone 6 will become the new normal.”
We don’t really have any evidence for this. For all we know, next year there will be a new 4.0″ iPhone (possibly with this year’s guts). The iPhone 5S is already a nice phone, and didn’t really need replacement at the same time as two new form factors.
And yes, I’m just speculating. We’ll find out next year.
Of course, I don’t know either, but the design decisions in iOS 8 all scream for more screen real estate. Try it on a 4s, it looks terrible. Apple bringing out a new device that will not support the OS perfectly and has less battery life than the predecessor in a year from now sounds very unlikely.
One of the things that makes me happy about the simultaneous launch of the 6 and the 6+ is that we are going to see what the real demand for giant phones is. Blowhards have been crowing about how Apple is missing the boat by not having an absurd-a-phone, and I’ve never really bought into it. This is fascinating because it’s a pretty viable experiment. All other things being almost equal, what does Jill consumer buy? A really huge phone or a more modestly sized phone? I think the answer is going to fall out where some of us always thought it was: about 20% of the world-wide market wants really huge, tablet-sized phones. I think that number is significantly lower in the U.S. Perhaps half.
Maybe the demand for huge phones is higher among tech journalists than among the population at large.
I got an iPhone 6 sitting on top of my desk. Can use it because Apple’s servers can’t verify my ATT account information. I know that complicated things tend to now always work as intended. But 4 hours on the phone and an elusive timeline resolution of only telling me that they will get back to me in 24hrs. is not very Apple like.
Currently 6 ships in 7-10 business days. 6+ ships in 3-4 weeks. I think underestimated the demand outside of Asia for the 6+. I expect the 6 will sell better overall but it will take months for the 6+ to level. I was in an Apple store last week and even the employees were cautious of the size until customers had handled one. “It’s really big. You might want to hold one first before ordering.”
I still think the 6+ will be the first 5.x size phone (yea, I hate the word ‘ph’ word) to sell well outside of Asia. The Samsung Note barely makes a dent in the US, Europe, Australia, Japan, etc. For years Apple users have made fun of those types of phones so it will take a while to socialize it and become acceptable among the customer base. Sort of the same thing as using an iPad to take pictures. Lots of jokes at first but now it’s common place.
Yeah, but we won’t see truly meaningful numbers until after the Holiday season. The stats we see after December 25th will be one thing, but the numbers we see after February 19th will be equally, if not more, important.
I agree. Sorry if I wasn’t clear. These numbers here don’t mean anything. Once supplies stabilize, we’ll get a sense how things shake out. February sounds like a good time to check in.
So many reasons not to get all worked up yet. First, How many 6 Plus units are back-ordered pre-orders? Second, only the numbers after Christmas will accurately give us a realistic break-down of demand. Finally, those numbers will only give us a pretty clear idea of what’s happening in the West. It’s the numbers that we see after February 19th that will let us know what’s happening in the, Han-speaking at least, East. So, we have to wait until we can compare Apple’s Q1 2015 numbers to Q2 2015 numbers.
I would give the timeline a little bit longer… I wonder how many folks will buy the + thinking that’s the size they need, but realize they want something that fits in a pocket comfortably. No idea if that will be offset by folks like me who ordered the 6, but are tempted by the +. All that will have to wait for the next upgrade cycle. But Feb would give a pretty good idea of where things stand now, that’s for sure.
They will do a 6c at 4″ if there is too much backlash from people with small hands about the 4.7, otherwise they will sell out inventory of the 4″ phones as the budget phones and discontinue. There are supply chain and development issues with maintaining the multiple screen sizes that are already challenging. What they need to be focused on is kicking people off 32-bit processors and onto Apple pay capable devices. The 4″ thing will fade away unless small-handed people scream rape.
That happened to me in the AT&T Store, while we were all at the same table. AT&T Staff said it had been happening all day. It worked on the third retry, but it wasn’t Apple’s servers verifying the account information, because that is the iCloud part which worked fine. The ATT Account information is for Activating the phone. This is not Apple’s problem unless they forgot how to support SIM cards, which they clearly have not, or else none of us would be completely transitioned to our iPhone 6, as I am.
I hope this is true. 6c next year, with an A8/M8 chip (or at least A7/M7 as in the similarly-sized 5S), Touch ID, 5S’s or 6’s camera, and Apple Pay?
If scalpers were smart, the would have better sources of income than scalping. Obv.
We might hear some 6 vs. 6+ sales numbers during the January earnings call. Not sure if Tim and his team ever get that specific in terms of per-model sales though.
Yeah, they won’t get overly specific on an earnings call, but the data is out there (and Horace Dediu will crunch it). Once a couple of the advertising networks start revealing what they’re seeing Apple can’t really deny anything. Tim talked, albeit a little obliquely, about 5c/5s sales during the Q1FY14 call, so we’ll hear something about it, if not much.
I’d LOVE to know how many get returned within 24 hours once people hold a 6 Plus in their hand{s}.
As just about everyone has pointed out, these numbers mean precisely nothing because most of the people who want to buy the 6 Plus can’t! I was there the second they went on sale online, but will still have to wait 2-3 weeks for mine to arrive. I fully expect the 6 to greatly outsell the 6 Plus — that only makes sense as it’s larger (and more polarizing) as well as being more expensive — but you can’t make any conclusions about form factor preferences at this point.
It’s almost as if some people don’t want to believe the 6 plus might actually be a popular choice among consumers. Granted, I thought I wanted a plus until I got to play with one. One handed use was completely out of the realm of possibility for me, which I guess I should have known, but it took the wind out of my plus-sized sails. But I know plus owners who are over the moon about theirs. It’s definitely a popular option, if only supply could keep up with demand.
Who says they don’t?
Sold or shipped? I’d be willing to bet that, over time, Apple will sell just as many, if not more, 6+ units as the 6. A more accurate headline would have read “Early data suggests iPhone 6 usage is higher than that of the 6 Plus by a significant margin”. Of course, that’s not nearly as sensational.
I really find it odd that all Apple blogs switched from defending smaller phones to defending the upcoming popularity of the biggest phone Apple sells.
Why is it the mix unexpected – it’s like the most expected thing in the world to me. Plus is much bigger than what most people need, and it’s more expensive.
Why the heck would we want, or expect for people to gain an “acquired taste” for it?
It almost feels like this post was written by a Dave Mark clone that’s just bad at doing a Dave Mark impression.
Bankers are also scalper except they are legal because government grants them powers.
Obviously Rich people (source of corruption)
are willing to pay double and not wait.
Are you telling they are not providing service to the 1%.
These are not just chinese but indians, russians and other grey marketers.
India was largest website selling i-products without Apple’s permission.
So get off your high horse.
Yup, sold out in less than an hour at my local Apple store. I wonder how many in line settled for the 6 not plus?
Do you recall make fun of ipad as bigger iphone.
That was 2010.
now run along to mommy. your brain must hurt to use big words and get 2 dinar from Samskunk.
Ohh. Suddenly the -c suffix makes even more sense.
I think maybe you should read what was written. Being generous and assuming good faith, you misunderstood it.
I don’t know. I’m quite happy with iOS 8 on my iPhone 5, and have been using it that way for some time now.
I played with a 6 today. Couldn’t get to a 6 Plus in a timely manner, and it’s kind of moot anyway. I thought the 6 looked too big. But when I picked it up I was shocked how light it was. It felt good in my hand. And the screen is gorgeous. I won’t update for another year. But it was interesting to see just how much bigger the smaller of the two is.
There is no meaningful comparison from one quarter to the next. Comparing each quarter to the year previous is more meaningful. Each and every quarter.
New title suggestion: Early data suggest iPhone 6 shipping to customers faster than 6 plus by a significant margin
“When the iPhone 5 was introduced, the shorter iPhone 4 form factor no longer sold through the traditional channels”
.
Didn’t the 4S, with the same form factor, become the $99 iPhone at this point?
It’s not a matter of comparing one quarter to another, it’s that one can’t get an accurate idea of the device demand/sales breakdown until you look at Q1FY15 (Holiday quarter in the West) and Q2FY15 (Holiday quarter in the East) cumulatively.
I got my sim card activated by ATT, what is not happening is iOS confirming my ATT credentials (social and zip code), so that I can use the Phone. In other words, by all intent and proposes, ATT did there part. Apple’s implementation is what has me locked out. I have been dealing with this since Friday evening, so I got a pretty good picture of what is going on, and this has been confirmed by two iOS senior advisors who are in touch with me attempting to resolve the problem. Apple is using a third party company to communicate between iOS/iTunes and ATT, somebody dropped the ball on some accounts and Apple is pressuring them to solve this.
my coworker did. She went 2 places Friday morning, the first had only 1 of each model of 6+ but plenty of the 6 so she went elsewhere and the 2nd place didn’t have any 6+ models at all. So she now owns a 64GB iPhone 6 instead of the 6+ she wanted. My 6+ is due to ship 2 – 4 weeks from now. I preordered it on day 0. I could have ordered a 6 instead and it would have been here Friday. Supply is definitely an issue.