All the signs suggest Apple will confirm record iPhone 6 (and 6 Plus) sales when it announces its Q1 results next week – even while interest in its latest models remains incredibly strong.
iPhone crazy
451 Research today published its latest findings, which suggest more than half of Americans planning to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days will get an iPhone. Not only that, but people are around three times more likely to get an iPhone than a Samsung Galaxy device, the figures confirm.
A September survey (conducted just as the iPhone 6 series shipped) showed 71% of Americans planning to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days planned to get an Apple.
This follows an astonishingly strong Christmas quarter in which Apple accounted for 51 percent of new device activations worldwide in the week leading up to and including Christmas day, according to Flurry.
Samsung’s swan song?
Biggest single competitor, Samsung, took just 18%, which matches the 18% of 451’s respondents who said they were interested in purchasing Samsung smartphones in the next 90 days.
This 18% figure may constitute Samsung’s support level – support it desperately needs while it tries to replace Android with TizenBerry in an attempt to build its own unique identity and avoid collapse in the current market.
Kantar Worldpanel research earlier this month confirmed that iOS marketshare grew in the U.S., Germany, UK, China, France, Australia, Italy and Spain in the three months ending November 2014.
Globally, Counterpoint reports suggest Apple’s new phones continue to win hearts and minds worldwide, while the Asia-Pacific territories are also falling under its spell:
33% market share in South Korea.
51% share in Japan.
12% in China.
A new iRecord
All these data points are driving huge expectation as Apple prepares to divulge its financial results next week. Like most analysts, Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty estimates Apple sold up to 69 million units in the quarter – that’s up from 51 million in the year-ago holiday quarter.