Consumers Still Buying Tons of Older iPhones

According to new data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, Apple’s iPhone sales for the second calendar quarter of 2013 were pretty much evenly split between the iPhone 5 and its two precursors — the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.

Lower-priced legacy iPhones are gaining share across Apple’s smartphone portfolio. Between April and June found that the iPhone 5 accounted for 52 percent of all iPhones sold in the United States. Meanwhile, the iPhone 4S accounted for about 30 percent, and the iPhone 4 about 18 percent. That’s similar to the iPhone model breakdown CIRP has charted for three quarters now, but it’s quite a bit different from the trend the firm saw following the release of the iPhone 4S, which claimed significantly more sales share following its debut, and held onto it longer. So there’s a clear trend developing here, with lower-priced legacy iPhones gaining in popularity and likely reducing the average selling price of the iPhone as a result. By how much?