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Is the iPhone 6 Plus not the smash hit we thought it was?

Published Sep 30th, 2014 3:50PM EDT
iPhone 6 Vs. iPhone 6 Plus Sales
Image: Jonathan S. Geller, BGR

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The instant sell-outs and rapidly lengthening delivery estimates of the iPhone 6 Plus have led many observers to believe that the most jumbo version of iPhone is capturing a big chunk of the new iPhone sales in North America. But new statistics from Chitika indicate that people may have been jumping the gun because it’s possible that the low early production volumes of iPhone 6 Plus are the reason for its relative scarcity compared to the smaller iPhone 6.

RELATED: The iPhone 6 Plus is so popular that even Apple employees can’t get one yet

According to Chitika, three days after the launch of the new models, the iPhone 6 made up 1.6% of the internet traffic volume generated by all iPhones and the iPhone 6 Plus was responsible of just 0.2% of Internet traffic. This means that the iPhone 6 generated a whopping eight times more web traffic than its massive sibling.

Could it be that the iPhone 6 Plus is just too big for mainstream iPhone fans and that it will become a relatively small niche product and that the cheaper iPhone 6 is dominating shipments?

There has been a lot of debate over what the success of Samsung’s phablets means for Apple. Have consumers who are truly in love with the phablet size already migrated to Android over the past two years, leaving the iOS ecosystem as a place for smaller phones only?

It is possible that early production bottlenecks are distorting the numbers, of course. Overall, the market penetration of new iPhones after three days is surprisingly small. A year ago, the iPhone 5 had already soared to hog 2.7% of all iPhone web traffic on day three. This time around, iPhone 6 stands at 1.6% and iPhone 6+ at 0.2% and the combined share is substantially below the level that the iPhone 5 conquered.

 

After launching mobile game company SpringToys tragically early in 2000, Tero Kuittinen spent eight years doing equity research at firms including Alliance Capital and Opstock. He is currently an analyst and VP of North American sales at mobile diagnostics and expense management Alekstra, and has contributed to TheStreet.com, Forbes and Business 2.0 Magazine in addition to BGR.