Thinking about upgrading to the iPhone 16? You certainly aren’t alone, as we speed towards Apple’s launch event on September 9 – but a new study has broken down why most of us are considering taking the plunge.
A new report from CIRP (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners) reveals the results of its survey, which asked respondents why they were upgrading to a new iPhone (in the year up to June 2024).
The number one reason, chosen by 44% of people, was simply because their current phone was ‘obsolete’. For iOS 18, those phones include the iPhone 8 series and first-gen iPhone SE – so it’s likely that a significant number of iPhone 16 buyers will be coming from those models, rather than more recent ones.
On a similar theme, the second most popular reason for upgrading (which covered 29% of respondents) was because their current phone was “lost/broken/stolen”. In total, that means 73% of iPhone upgraders are doing so because they’re effectively forced into it by their current situation, rather than for any new whizz-bang features.
Only 18% of people in the survey said they were upgrading their iPhone to get “new features”, which is a surprisingly small number. In the iPhone 16’s case, those new tricks are expected to be new Apple Intelligence-powered AI tools, including Clean Up for photos, along with a new A17 Pro (or A18 Pro) chip, an Action button on all models, and battery upgrades.
It’s possible that, after release, the iPhone 16’s specific improvements could change that picture for upgraders and increase the proportion of those switching for new features, but looking at the rumors so far we’d say that’s unlikely – with these survey results reflecting the issue that most of us are holding onto our phones for longer, due to a mix of plateauing innovation and longer software support.
The iPhone conundrum
The days of enormous hardware leaps between iPhone models – most notably, in the realm of cameras – have been over for some time, and this survey reflects that reality. Around three quarters of us get a new iPhone simply because we have problems with our old phone, whether that’s running iOS or Android.
That said, it is likely that the number of people upgrading to the iPhone 16 for its new features will be higher than the 16% in this survey, given it covered all iPhone models. And as we’ve previously argued, the iPhone is still probably the only phone that’s actually worth upgrading to every year, if you’re that way inclined.
One of the reasons for this is because iPhones tend to hold their value better than Android phones, which makes regular trade-ins more appealing (and upgrading less expensive). The other, less complementary, factor is that Apple tends to be slower in rolling out new features to iPhones compared to Android, so there’s often more value in each upgrade.
Our recent WhatsApp survey (above) gave us a taste of some of the more specific reasons why many are considering upgrading to the iPhone 16. The winner was the promise of better battery life, followed by the unique AI features promised by Apple Intelligence – so those features do still hold some appeal, even if it isn’t clear when many (including the revamped Siri) will fully roll out.
A significant number of iPhone 16 buyers will also likely come from Android, according to recent data – in June 2024, for example, 17% of iPhone buyers in the US came from Android, which was the highest switching rate for several years. Let’s hope the big Apple event delivers and gives us enough reasons to hit up the iPhone 16 preorders, which are expected to start on September 13.
