US: iPhone 5s/c demand undented by expectation of new models

Smartphones with a screen size between 5 and 5.4” represented 24.6% of overall sales

Apple’s market share saw a drop of less than 1 percentage point in the 3 months prior to launch.

Despite the high expectations surrounding the launch of the iPhone 6/ 6 Plus and the early sales volumes shared by Apple, demand for the current iPhone models remained strong in the 3 months ending in August. According to the latest smartphones sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Apple’s market share of the US smartphone market reached 30.5%, a quarter on quarter decline of only 0.9 percentage points. In the same period in 2013, Apple’s share dropped 5.2 percentage points.

In the month of August alone, the iPhone 5S was the second best selling smartphone in the US with a share of 12.9% just behind the Galaxy S5 (13.8%) that continued to be heavily promoted across carriers. The iPhone 5c was the 4th best selling smartphone with a share of 8.8%.

While industry watchers and press are trying to figure out which between the iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus will be the best seller, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech data gives a clear indication of how consumer preference is likely to look like. Sales of smartphones with a screen size of 5.5” and over were only 3.9% of the US market in the three months ending in August. Smartphones with a screen size between 5 and 5.4” represented 24.6% of overall sales.