Judging by the insane lines outside of Apple retail stores after a new iPhone or iPad product launch, you’d think there would be no question as to which outlet sells the most devices. As it turns out, Best Buy actually sells nearly as many iPhones as Apple does — and Apple isn’t even the leader.
Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) surveyed iPhone owners in December, January, and February asking but one question: where did you get that thing? The winning retailer is AT&T. 32 percent of respondents either bought an AT&T iPhone online or in a local store. Following closely behind is Verizon Wireless with 30 percent, which isn’t too shabby for a carrier that just got the green light from Apple to sell iPhones at all only a year ago. Finally we get to Apple’s share of 15 percent. Best Buy comes pretty close to that with 13 percent. Last but not least, poor Sprint only sells 7 percent of all iPhones sold.
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has once been quoted talking about the $15.5 billion gamble on the iPhone. Although the carrier sells less iPhones than the other outlets, Hesse recently defended the iPhone, saying it’s “more profitable than the average smartphone customer.”
Out of all sales, 76 percent of customers bought their iPhone from a retail store. The remaining 24 percent bought online. Percentages were a little bit higher for buying online immediately after the iPhone 4S launch (probably due to pre-orders) but it shows that a hands-on experience before buying a phone is a priority for most consumers.