April 29, 2024

50% of U.S. iPhones Are Repeat Purchases

Posted April 7, 2012 at 3:53pm by iClarified · 13645 views
About half of all U.S. iPhones are bought as replacements for existing iPhones, notes Horace Dediu of Asymco.

Dediu combined carrier sales data with comScore data on the US mobile install base for his analysis.

The latest comScore data (period ending February) shows that Android added 2.87 million users to its base while iPhone added 1.52 million. If we assume that Android sold a minimal number of replacements (due to the limited time in use of bulk of units) and round up to 3 million for February, and if we assume that Apple sells as many iPhones as Android (which is what Walkley suggests) then we can conclude that in the US roughly half the iPhones are bought as replacements for existing iPhones.

Dediu notes that we reach 50% penetration of smartphones, customer loyalty will become increasingly important. "You come for the product, you stay for the ecosystem."

He notes that so far the iPhone is getting a passing grade but Android has yet to be tested.

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