Will AI Push Customers to New iPhones?

Another Apple WWDC has come and gone, with Apple announcing a range of new iPhone software features. Apple renumbered the operating systems, changed the look-and-feel of iOS, and committed to more AI (Artificial Intelligence / Apple Intelligence) as part of the user experience.

The big question remains: will all this sell more iPhones? Probably not.

We use this moment as an opportunity to remind everyone that iPhone users buy new iPhones mostly to replace an old, largely worn-out smartphone, rather than to take advantage of the latest, most advanced features on the new model. CIRP has analyzed these purchasing decisions for over ten years, and increasingly, customers cite needing to replace an old, obsolete phone, or one that was lost, broken or stolen.

Specifically, 40% of buyers indicate they purchased their new iPhone because of a problem with their old one. It still functioned, but experienced slow performance or had a damaged display, diminished battery life, or otherwise proved disappointing. Another 27% replaced a phone that was completely inoperable or was lost or stolen (Chart 1).