CIRP recently identified an interesting iPhone customer behavior. There is a stark divide between owners that keep a phone for a long period of time, and owners that trade in a new phone quickly. We determined iPhone buyers that have their previous iPhone a long time generally buy a new iPhone only when the old one no longer serves them, often with degraded battery life or a damaged display. What about customers that trade them in relatively quickly?
As a reminder, about 39% of iPhone buyers kept their previous phone for three years or more, while 33% kept it for two years or less. We’re interested in that one-third of buyers that replace a relatively new and presumably useful iPhone. The condition of retiring phones of different ages shows an anticipated progression and a surprising one.
Of course, these rapid upgrade iPhone customers primarily have iPhones that are in good to excellent condition. Among buyers who replaced a phone that was one year old or less, 79% report the battery works well (can go “most” or “all” of a day without charging) and 72% report the screen is “perfect” (Chart 1).