As an observer reports, 90 percent of those who were in San Francisco, Minneapolis and New York were in the queue to make an upgrade from and older iPhone model. Some of them were also switching to iPhone from another handset. This is also an improvement from iPhone 5 lineup, where 83 percent in the queue already had an iPhone.
According to Gene Munster from Piper Jaffray:
We believe that the high level of iPhone users upgrading to the new 5s or 5c demonstrates continued loyalty levels among iPhone owners. We note that given the relative maturity of the smartphone market in the US, it is not surprising to see that a majority of iPhone 5s/5c buyers were current iPhone users.
Also, 10 percent more people are taking iPhone 5s and own an iPhone 5, compared to those who switched from iPhone 4s to iPhone 5 when it was released.
According to the source, the first day sales show that 36 percent already had an iPhone 5 and were out to buy iPhone 5s, and this number was only 26 percent last year in case of iPhone 5.
Munster also reports that 95 percent of people in the line-up were out there for iPhone 5s rather than iPhone 5c.
One shopper in San Francisco said to L.A. Times that iPhone 5c was ‘junior, high, high schoolish’.
Apple also said that they are aware of the shortages iPhone 5s is facing. If it wasn’t for the shortages, the sales of the handset could have been 1 million more than the current 6 million.
Barclays Analyst Ben Reitzes also says that Apple is able to get past the shaky launch of the previous iPhone. He believes that “the sentiment toward the 5s production process improves over the next few weeks.â€
Apple has also called up suppliers to speed up iPhone 5s production by 1/3.
