iPhone 14 Pro Max best-selling model; The trend is expected to continue

While the entry-level iPhone 13 was the best-selling model in the 2021 lineup, that changed the following year, with a new market intelligence report indicating that the iPhone 14 Pro Max was the best-selling model.

That indicates that this was not only true for the launch period – when you’d expect early buyers to flock to the flagship model – but that it remained so throughout the first half of this year…

For many years, the base model of the iPhone was the best-selling model each year. For most non-tech buyers, the important thing was getting a new iPhone, rather than the specific model.

But the smartphone site Omdia Market Tracker says that this changed with the iPhone 14 lineup, as CNBC reports.

From January to June, Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max shipped 26.5 million units — the most of any model from any manufacturer — compared to shipments of 21 million units for the iPhone 14 Pro.

Apple took over all four of the most shipped models, with the iPhone 14 coming in third with 16.5 million units, and the iPhone 13 selling 15.5 million units.

It is a trend also seen with Android brands, as consumers increasingly prefer premium models, despite rising inflation and job losses.

The company says that this strong demand for flagship models is likely to be even stronger with the launch of the iPhone 15 lineup.

(Demand for) Pro and Pro Max models are expected to continue to increase “due to strong demand for premium models,” said Josey Hong, senior director of research at Omdia.

This echoes Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who said yesterday that Apple expects the iPhone 15 Pro Max to be the best-selling model in this year’s lineup.

In a new report, the analyst claims that the iPhone 15 Pro Max will account for 35% to 40% of shipments in the iPhone 15 series, which means that Apple is clearly focusing on the more expensive model this year. Estimated shipments of the iPhone 15 Pro Max by the end of the year also grew by about 10% compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max in the same period.

“This means that Apple is optimistic about the selling point of the periscope, which is only available in the iPhone 15 Pro Max,” Kuo said in the report.

Take 9to5Mac

There is certainly plenty of evidence that the two iPhone 14 Pro models were by far the most popular, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to see the Pro Max as the best-selling model.

While many used to buy a new phone every year or two, now the standard is to upgrade every three to four years. This means that consumers will likely have a larger budget to play with, and may also realize that they want the best model so they can feel up to date for as long as possible.

The Pro Max is expected to be the only model with a periscope lens, which will likely be seen as the most attractive feature of this year’s iPhones, given pent-up demand for a much longer optical zoom.

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