COVID-19 Left Apple Retail a Little Stronger

As the United States has basically emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a good time to look back on the years of disruption to see the impact on Apple. One interesting area to consider is Apple Retail, its physical and online retail stores, and how they sell iPhones.

We’ve noted before that for all of its public profile, Apple Retail has a relatively small share of iPhone sales. Instead, mobile phone carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and regionals) account for much more than the majority of sales. For a period of time, the COVID-19 pandemic altered that dynamic somewhat.  And there appears to be some lasting impact.

We looked at two-year periods so we could compare the COVID-19 pandemic quarters more consistently with the time before and after. In the most recent period (24 months ending March 2024) Apple Retail accounted for 20% of US iPhone sales (Chart 1). This includes sales at the more than 250 Apple Stores in the US and through the Apple e-commerce website. The mobile carriers had 72% of iPhone sales, at both their physical retail and online stores. Other outlets, such as mass merchants (Best Buy, Walmart, Target) and other outlets had a much smaller share.