Tech

iPhone 7 fails to live up to iPhone 6 demand

The iPhone 7 launch might have been big, but data suggests that demand for the new smartphone is not as great as it was for the iPhone 6.

Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Senior Contributing Editor Oct. 3, 2016 at 7:39 a.m. PT

The iPhone 7 launch might have been big, but data by analytics firm Localytics suggests that demand for the new smartphone is not as great as it was for the iPhone 6.

While it's true that both the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models have gained a fair amount of traction since launch, with the iPhone 7 currently holding 2.7 percent of the total iPhone market share, and the iPhone 7 Plus with 0.9 percent of the market share, the new release has failed to make the same sort of impact that the iPhone 6 did during its first two weeks.

iPhone 7 launch fails to live up to iPhone 6 demand

However, things might be changing since the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus both gained more adoption between the first and second weekend mark than both the 6 and 6s models.

The iPhone 7 jumped from 1 percent adoption during its first weekend to 2.7 percent, and the iPhone 7 Plus increased from 0.2 percent to 0.9 percent at the two week mark. This suggests that initial demand may have been affected by factors such as availability, or that potential buyers held out for the first crop of hardware reviews to emerge.

We also have adoption data for iOS 10, which suggests that while adoption over the first two weeks has been stronger than it was for iOS 8, with 40 percent of eligible iPhone and iPads already running the upgrade, demand for iOS 9 was stronger, with almost 50 percent of devices running the upgrade by the two-week mark.