iPhone Sales Statistics in the UK [2024]

The iPhone revolutionised the smartphone market upon its release in 2007. Since the release of the first generation, the iPhone has gone from strength to strength to become the most sought-after smartphone brand in the UK and the world. But how have iPhone sales matched up in recent years in the UK? Are they still as popular as they seem, or are they losing steam? 

An estimated 19,452 iPhones were sold every day in the UK in 2019. How well is the iPhone doing 15 years after the first version was released? 

Check out the latest iPhone sales statistics UK to know the bigger picture. 

iPhone Sales Statistics 

The penetration rate denotes the market share held by a particular brand during a stated period. It essentially shows how popular a brand or a product is compared to the others in the market. The Apple iOS (the operating system used in iPhones) penetration rate has been fairly consistent over the years, hovering near the 50% mark. Hence, the fight between Android and iOS is quite close.

How many people have an iPhone in the UK? The number of people buying iPhones in the UK is astounding. iPhone sales figures in the UK were steadily increasing between 2011 and 2017. However, they started declining in 2018 and again in 2019. Sales in 2019 were 300,000 lesser than in 2018 and 400,000 lesser than in 2017. Between 2011 – 2019, more than 52 million iPhones have been sold in the UK alone.

iPhone sales by model show that the iPhone 11 and the iPhone SE combined made up around 25% of the overall smartphones sold in the UK for July 2020. The two models were closely followed by the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus 5G, Samsung Galaxy A10 and Samsung Galaxy A21s.

Meanwhile, by 2023, the number of Android users in the United Kingdom will exceed 30 million. According to Bill Fisher, senior analyst at eMarketer, “the Apple ecosystem is significantly less all-encompassing in the UK than it is in the US”.

iPhone sales might have seen a decline between 2017 and 2019; however, they seem to have picked up in the first quarter of 2021. Apple managed to sell 57 million iPhones during this quarter which was an increase of 44%. These sales were caused mainly by an overall positive trend in smartphone sales in the UK, increasing 24%. 

The iPhone 12 Pro was rated favourably by 47% of respondents, making it the most popular iPhone model. The iPhone 8 came in second, with 46% of respondents favouring it.

The percentage of iPhone users in the UK is quite high. What percentage of people in the UK use the iPhone? As mentioned earlier, the penetration rate of the iPhone in the UK has been steadily rising until 2017. That resulted in almost half of all households owning an iPhone by 2018. 

Affordability denotes the number of weeks a consumer has to save (at the median salary) in the UK at the launch to afford the iPhone. Hence, the average UK consumer would have to save for 1.1 weeks in order to buy the iPhone 12 Mini. Typically, the iPhone’s affordability range between 1 week to 2 weeks. One of the least affordable iPhones was the iPhone 11 Pro Max, with an affordability of 2.

Over the last few years, Apple has been coming out with multiple iPhone versions each year. The various versions are meant to serve people with different budgets. The “Pro Max” models are usually the most expensive.

iOS beat Android with just under 50%. In the United Kingdom, iOS and Android account for more than 99% of the total market share for mobile operating systems.

Wrap Up 

The iPhone can be considered the world’s most famous smartphone brand. Overall, it is also one of the most valuable brands in the world. The success that the iPhone series of smartphones has seen over the years has been unprecedented. 

We hope you enjoyed our iPhone sales statistics UK, and we trust that you now have a more accurate perspective of the iPhone and its impact.