When Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s new iPhone 5S and 5C devices hit the market last month, it looked like the gold iPhone 5S was extremely popular. The company just couldn’t keep it available for quick delivery even on its own website, and many stores were out of the gold model. But a new report suggests the gold iPhone 5S may not be nearly as popular as was first suggested by analysts—or is it?
New research offers new data on Apple’s iPhone 5S
Business Insider’s Jay Yarow points to data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. The survey of people who bought the new iPhones indicated that the gold iPhone 5S is the least popular of the three options. The space gray model is actually the most popular as 43% bought that color. The survey showed that 30% bought the white and silver one, while 27% opted for the white and gold one.
To come up with these numbers, the firm surveyed 400 iPhone buyers during the 30 days after the new iPhones launched.
Did Apple’s supply affect the numbers?
One thing that this report is missing is a little more details. I don’t have access to the report myself, but the question I would have is whether these numbers were skewed because of constrained supply of the gold iPhone 5S. Did iPhone buyers opt for one of the other colors because they couldn’t get the gold model? If so, then this isn’t a good way to gauge what consumers actually wanted versus what they were able to get.
Early indications were that the space gray iPhone 5S was the easiest one to find in the U.S. However, it was the opposite in China.
Apple’s yellow iPhone 5C less popular
The survey from CIRP also provided numbers on the popularity of the iPhone 5C colors. Supply for the device has not been nearly as constrained as it was for the 5S, and it’s interesting to note that most of the colors are about as popular as each other. Blue was the most popular color, with 27% of buyers choosing it. White came in second, with 25% of buyers, while green was third with 21%. About 20% of buyers selected pink, but only 7% chose the yellow iPhone 5C.
