CIRP today released a new report looking at iPhone buyers' sales patterns when it comes to storage tiers. They highlight that storage tiers have become Apple's primary way of increasing profits on each new iPhone sold, as iPhone profits become increasingly higher as storage is upgraded.
According to CIRP, nearly half of iPhone buyers choose to upgrade their device's storage capacity . And this trend gets even larger, reaching over 50%, when the iPhone 15 lineup is considered separately.
Storage upgrade behavior varies by iPhone model
Last week, CIRP reported that the iPhone 15 lineup was lagging behind its predecessor's sales. However, today's report was focused on understanding storage update behavior.
From CIRP:
Storage updates vary by model. Customers buying newer and more expensive models, such as the iPhone 15 models introduced in September 2023, upgrade storage faster than customers buying older and cheaper models. More than half of iPhone 15 model buyers are upgrading storage, compared to less than 40% for year-old iPhone 14 models and just over or under 30% of iPhone 13 and 12 buyers.
This breakdown is large makes sense, since buyers opting for older iPhones are likely to be more budget conscious and therefore less inclined to fork out for a higher level of storage. However, customers buying the latest and therefore most expensive models don't mind paying a little more for the extra storage.
The same trend is reflected even in the full iPhone 15 lineup if you break it down into several parts. Professional and non-professional models. 54% of iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max buyers will choose the higher memory level, compared to 36% of iPhone 15 and 15 Plus buyers.
That's a significant difference, and even more noticeable. when you consider that Pro models already start with double the memory of their non-Pro equivalents.
9to5Mac& #8217;s Take
Apple has even more data on consumer behavior when it comes to iPhone purchases, but the CIRP report provides a useful way to understand a key component of what the company is working with. It must be difficult to find the perfect balance between offering basic storage options suitable for many users and offering tempting upgrade levels.
My main takeaway from this report: Apple knows that buyers of its most expensive iPhones will happily shell out more money for storage.
