Apple Positioned iPhone XR to Draw in Android Users, Says CIRP Report

The iPhone XR had 32 percent of total U.S. iPhone sales in the 30 days after its October launch, said a Wednesday Consumer Intelligence Research Partners report. The higher-priced XS and XS Max, released a month earlier, together had 35 percent of U.S. iPhone sales during the period. Among iPhone buyers for the period, 82 percent upgraded from an iPhone and 16 percent from an Android phone, CIRP said, vs. the period after the November 2017 launch of iPhone X, when 86 percent of customers upgraded from an iPhone and 11 percent from an Android model. Noting that Apple doesn’t state its launch strategy, analyst Mike Levin inferred from pricing and features that the company positioned the XR “to appeal to potential operating systems switchers from Android.” Apple didn't comment. Findings are based on a survey of 165 U.S. iPhone buyers in the U.S. in the 30 days after Oct. 26.