Apple's marketing strategy of launching the iPhone SE, priced at $399, back in March, seems successful and going as planned.
According to Tech Crunch, the 4-inch iPhone SE provides Apple a welcome sales bump at a time when the company is not doing particularly well in terms of sales and profit. According to a new report, the iPhone SE has sold very well in key markets.
In September each year, Apple reveals its new phone models and it is expected that the company will unveil its new iPhone on September 7. That means that many customers might be tempted to wait when buying a new device during the months before a new phone model is expected to be launched.
This, however, did not happen during Q2 and Q3 this time around. A report from Kantar suggests that Apple sales increased in the U.S. and Europe during the second quarter of the year, a time that usually coincides with a slow sales period for the company. The main reason for this seems to be the iPhone SE.
Even if Apple's overall iPhone sales for the quarter dropped to 40.4 million units or a 15 percent decrease year-on-year, it looks that Apple's iPhone SE has prevented an even steeper decline. However, the situation was totally different in some major market such as the UK, Europe and the U.S.
Kantar reported that in the U.S., the iPhone SE helped Apple increase its market share to 31.8 percent in the quarter. The SE accounted for 5.1 percent of smartphone sales in the U.S.
The impact of the iPhone SE was even more significant in the UK. The phone model was the top-selling smartphone with an impressive 9.2 percent market share in the region. Apple has grown its share of sales in the U.K. by 3.1 percent to 37.2 percent in Q2, mostly thanks to the iPhone SE's sales.
According to Digital Trends, Apple's gains were more modest elsewhere in Europe. Year-on-year, the iOS market share grew 0.7 across Europe, reaching 18.2 percent in the region. The most significant gains have happened in France, where Apple's share of the handset market surged 21 percent.
Market research firm RBC Capital Markets estimates that the iPhone SE's traction might be as much as 23 percent of total iPhone sales. In an interview in June, Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri declared that customer demand for the company's products was significantly stronger than it has been "anticipated at the beginning of the quarter." According to him, throughout the quarter, the Cupertino-based tech giant was not even "able to fulfill iPhone SE demand."
