23% of Owners Say They Plan to Upgrade to New Apple iPhone in the Fall
A new report from Loup Ventures suggests that 23% of current iPhone owners intend to purchase the latest version of the Apple smartphone when it becomes available in the fall.
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
[cnxvideo id=”509733″ placement=”ros”]Whether you refer to it as the iPhone 8 or the iPhone X, there’s little doubt that speculation about the new iPhone due from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) later this year has given the company’s share price a boost. Apple claims the best performing stock among the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average for the year to date with a gain of just over 20%, as of last Friday’s close.
In a report posted Monday morning, Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster revealed the results of a survey of 205 U.S. consumers related to their interest in buying what Munster calls the iPhone X.
Among 234 current iPhone owners swept up in the survey, 23% intend to upgrade to the new iPhone. That’s an improvement of almost 50% from the 15% of iPhone owners who said they intended to upgrade to the iPhone 7 when it was released last fall.
[nativounit]
One difference between the two surveys is the time of year when they were taken. Munster explains:
We conducted our most recent survey roughly six months ahead of the iPhone X release. Last year, the survey was done two months ahead of the iPhone 7 release. As we get closer to launch, the rumor mill can positively or negatively impact excitement about buying. If the rumors live up to the early hype, interest will likely increase; if they don’t, interest may decrease.
Munster also cites the popularity of Apple’s upgrade program for the “meaningfully higher” upgrade interest to a new iPhone X.
Rumored augmented reality (AR) features for the new iPhone score well among those who say they plan to upgrade, with 26% saying they are interested in the AR features. Among those who don’t plan to purchase the new iPhone, just 16% say they are interested in the AR features.
Interest in AR is highest among millennials (34%) and men (29%, compared to 23% of women).
At the end of the fourth quarter — the first full quarter of availability for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus — 72% of Apple’s U.S. sales were down to the 7 and 7 Plus. That indicates to us, at least, that the 23% upgrade figure that Loup Ventures projects at this point is a very solid estimate. Apple sold 78.3 million iPhones in the December quarter.
Apple shares traded down about 0.1% in the noon hour Monday, at $139.03 in a 52-week range of $89.47 to $140.28. The 12-month consensus price target is $142.69.
[wallst_email_signup]
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
