Apple Announced Other Products, Too, and That’s Important for Some iPhone Buyers

Not a bad launch announcement last week for Apple, as it rolled out the new iPhone 16 models. A little lost in the Apple Intelligence hype were Apple’s other new products: a new Apple Watch and new AirPods models, with some nifty features.

Notably, Apple didn’t announce any new iPads or Macs. In recent years, they save these product launches for other times of the year. The big annual launch announcement in September is all about iPhones and now, their two principal accessories. We thought we’d look at those iPhone and accessory customers.

Specifically, we analyze which of these important Apple accessories iPhone buyers also own. We looked at all Apple customers that bought an iPhone in the twelve months ended June 2024. For these iPhone customers, about 60% also own an Apple Watch, and a little more than one-third own AirPods (Chart 1). Interestingly, this ownership rate varies considerably by the segment of iPhone buyer. Buyers that upgrade their iPhone more frequently are much more likely to also own these accessories.