Skip to main content

Report: iPhone 6S and 6S Plus sales are healthy so far but mixed compared with previous years

iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.
Jessica Lee Star / Digital Trends
The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are selling at a healthy pace, according to a new report. However, Apple’s share of overall smartphones is down from the past two years, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

Apple’s newest pair of updated smartphones, which were made available in the U.S. on September 25, are selling at paces comparable to their predecessors. The iPhone 6S accounted for 24.4 percent of iPhone sales in the three months ending in October, according to Kantar Worldpanel. This was down from the iPhone 6’s 33 percent share in the same period in 2014 but better than the iPhone 5S’s 22 percent share in 2013.

The iPhone 6S Plus accounted for 10.8 percent of iPhone sales in the three months ending in October. The iPhone 6 Plus had a 10 percent share of overall iPhone sales in the same period in 2014 and the iPhone 5C had 16 percent of iPhone sales in 2013.

Research isn’t a priority for many iPhone buyers in this period, as 42 percent of those who purchased one of the new iPhones did not conduct any research before doling out the money to make their buys. In the same period in 2014, 37 percent of purchases said they did no research before buying the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.

The size of the screen was the most important decision factor for 52 percent of iPhone 6S and 6S Plus buyers, while 42 percent pointed to the camera quality and 31 percent pointed to LTE.

The trajectory of iPhone 6S and 6S Plus sales is pointing up, based on historical sales for the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6.

In a separate post, Kantar Worldpanel reports that the iPhone 6S is the third best-selling smartphone in the U.S.

Editors' Recommendations

Jason Hahn
Jason Hahn is a part-time freelance writer based in New Jersey. He earned his master's degree in journalism at Northwestern…
Why you should buy the iPhone 15 Pro instead of the iPhone 15 Pro Max
Natural Titanium iPhone 15 Pro with Chopper and BD-1 droids around it.

Apple releases multiple iPhones every year, offering folks choice in terms of size and features. In 2024, the iPhone 15 lineup includes four distinct models.

The regular iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are great for those who don’t need a telephoto lens and don’t care about the Action button or the 1TB of storage. But anyone who wants a more “pro” experience has the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Read more
iPhone SE 4: news, rumored price, release date, and more
The Apple iPhone SE (2022) and Apple iPhone SE (2020) together.

While the spotlight always seems to be on Apple’s mainline iPhones, the iPhone SE is a great pick for those who are on a budget. If you want an iPhone that doesn't break the bank, the SE is the way to go.

The original iPhone SE came out in 2016, and then Apple revamped it in 2020 and 2022 by giving it some more modern hardware. The iPhone SE tends to get updated every two or so years rather than annually like the traditional iPhone. This means  that we should see a new iPhone SE 4 this year, but it’s not so cut-and-dried with this particular model.

Read more
Here’s how Apple could change your iPhone forever
An iPhone 15 Pro Max laying on its back, showing its home screen.

Over the past few months, Apple has released a steady stream of research papers detailing its work with generative AI. So far, Apple has been tight-lipped about what exactly is cooking in its research labs, while rumors circulate that Apple is in talks with Google to license its Gemini AI for iPhones.

But there have been a couple of teasers of what we can expect. In February, an Apple research paper detailed an open-source model called MLLM-Guided Image Editing (MGIE) that is capable of media editing using natural language instructions from users. Now, another research paper on Ferret UI has sent the AI community into a frenzy.

Read more