It was another big quarter for the iPhone.
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Apple said it sold 48.05 million iPhones last quarter. And it expects next quarter to be even bigger, setting a new record past the 74.46 million it sold in the holiday quarter of 2014.
Why does the iPhone continue to sell so well? And how does Apple know it'll be able to keep it up?
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Tim Cook said there are four key areas that make the company confident the iPhone will continue to sell at record levels:
- The first is the fact that there are still a lot of people using older iPhones with small screens that haven't upgraded yet. The iPhone 6, which launched last year, has a 4.7-inch screen. The iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5-inch screen. (The new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus have the same sizes.) But older iPhones have 5-inch screens or smaller. There are still plenty of people due for an upgrade to one of the big-screen iPhones, Cook told the WSJ.
- Next, there's Android. Apple has consistently said it's seeing record levels of people switching to Android to the iPhone since the introduction of the iPhone 6. This quarter, Apple got a little more specific. Cook told the WSJ that 30% of iPhone buyers last quarter were Android users.
- After that, there's China. The iPhone continues to perform well there as a premium device. It's the biggest growth market for Apple, and Cook told the WSJ that more middle class Chinese people are now able to afford it.
- Finally, there's the hefty price. Even though the iPhone can be twice as expensive as other devices, that has turned out to be an advantage for Apple, according to the WSJ. The iPhone is seen as a luxury item worth spending the extra cash for.
