Early iPhone 5 Purchases Trend Toward iPhone 4S Upgraders and Black Models Amid Long Lines

Regardless of the accuracy of the numbers, as a Verizon customer, I can say that it totally makes sense 4S owners are upgrading more than 4 owners. I only have 5 months till my two years is up. Release was February 4, 2011. That's just Verizon. AT&T customers would be June 2010, which would mean most of them should be ready.

johndallas999 said:

They asked "100" people! Wow! What a survey!

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Depending on response options/type of questions, 100 people is more than enough.

However, in this situation, with the wide range of response choices, and only going to one location for the survey, it was a mega ultra fail with so much variability in responses.

The fact that MR even reported it is disappointing.

This is the most ridiculous waste of internet bandwidth. Thanks for the top notch survey.

100 people in line in NYC. What kind of junk article is this? Really if you are going to do a survey, at least get a decent sample size. LOL!

I'm really surprised that there were almost as many people waiting at chestnut hill mall as Boylston street. Chestnut hill is a small location, it's probably less than 2/3rd the size of your average mall apple store.

Though, Boylston is outside, and it was pretty cold this morning, so the indoor mall may be more desirable.

jagsrock said:

Some of the factors not included in their "survey" is the fact that anyone who has an iPhone with Verizon is not eligible for an upgrade until 10/10. There will be another significant sales day when the verizon IP4 owners can upgrade.

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wrong. verizon lets you upgrade with the promo price after 18 months...you don't have to wait until 24

My 32GB was delivered by UPS at 8:40 this AM; certainly beats waiting in line! I upgraded from the 4, my wife has the 4S and will upgrade at the end of her contract next year (to iPhone 5S?). Upgrading every other one is just fine; sure I was a little envious of her 4S for a while, but for the next 12 months I rule!

I upgraded from a 4S and like others have mentioned, I sold my 16GB White 4S for $300, got the AT&T partial upgrade at $449, so I paid $149 for my black 16gb iPhone 5...
That fact that I made $100 profit on my year old iPhone 4S is really quite amazing. I'll do this every cycle now

This phone is beautiful.

From Comscore:

iPhone 5 Reaches Same Level of Online Sales in First 3 Days that iPhone 4S Reached in First Month

Ronnoco said:

I upgraded from a 4S and like others have mentioned, I sold my 16GB White 4S for $300, got the AT&T partial upgrade at $449, so I paid $149 for my black 16gb iPhone 5...
That fact that I made $100 profit on my year old iPhone 4S is really quite amazing. I'll do this every cycle now

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similar situation for me, i had a free trade in last year so paid nothing for the 4, and there's an upgrade on the family plan no one is using so i' sold my 4S to gazelle and got the 5. It's actually fiscally irresponsible for me not to upgrade.

deannnnn said:

Seriously? LTE alone is enough for me to upgrade. LTE + Bigger Screen? Absolute upgrade. LTE + Bigger Screen + Better Camera? Necessary upgrade.

And on top of all that when you can sell your 4S for the same amount it will cost to buy the 5, why not do it?!

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+a6 processor (2x cpu and 2x graphics performance) + better battery

being called a minor update??

jrswizzle said:

LOL....so because Apple just released its flagship mobile device and MacRumors is covering it you're upset you aren't hearing more about Macs? Do you want them to make stuff up for you to read?

Maybe for these last two months they should call is iPhoneRumors, but that's because those are the rumors that are out there. I'm sure as soon as more rumors about an iMac or Mac Pro surface MR will post them as well.

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Apparently, you haven't been around in MR very long. The front page wasn't as much iPhone click-bait as it is now. MR is literally showing rumors of physical mockups that someone made in their garage, photos of someone keying an in-store iPhone model, and showing data from "research" that someone literally made up. Those...aren't..."news and rumors you care about" those are Facebook posts and Twitter feeds.

But the only people that wait out in front of the store are people that update every iPhone basically.

jgg204 said:

wrong. verizon lets you upgrade with the promo price after 18 months...you don't have to wait until 24

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if you upgraded on the release date of the 4 which was 2/2010 your upgrade eligible in 20 months... add 20 months and you get 10/2012

darkslide29 said:

+a6 processor (2x cpu and 2x graphics performance) + better battery

being called a minor update??

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Well, an iterative one at least. It's a solid update, just not a mindblowing one.

Also, somewhat pertinent to the conversation at hand, this has to be the funniest thing I've seen in a good long while.

cclloyd9785 said:

But the only people that wait out in front of the store are people that update every iPhone basically.

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Did u read the article?

These "surveys" are as stupid as the people who stand in line for a phone.

darkslide29 said:

+a6 processor (2x cpu and 2x graphics performance) + better battery

being called a minor update??

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Im coming from iphone 3g so im happy, itll be about 100x as fast. Just hope google maps app is good (and soon).

somethingelsefl said:

Apparently, you haven't been around in MR very long. The front page wasn't as much iPhone click-bait as it is now. MR is literally showing rumors of physical mockups that someone made in their garage, photos of someone keying an in-store iPhone model, and showing data from "research" that someone literally made up. Those...aren't..."news and rumors you care about" those are Facebook posts and Twitter feeds.

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You're right, I haven't been. My assumption that a majority of MR's frontpage would be taken up by iPhone rumors leading up to the iPhone's release may be off base. Though I have seen articles about OS X updates and news pertaining to the Mac when available.

I think this isn't a MR problem, but an indication of how social our world has become. Every can post and tweet for the entire world to see.....naturally MR has a lot more material (especially leading up to a HIGHLY anticipated release) to sift through and post.

But I understand. I don't mean to come off like a douche. I'm interested in any rumor surrounding Apple so I'll read it all.

darkslide29 said:

Semi-subsidized price for upgrading early from AT&T for a 32gb was $299+250 early upgrade fee= $549 (plus tax), while the unlocked off contract price is $749 (plus tax), so it was not worth getting the unlocked one. I sold my 4S for $475, so it paid for most of my 5. Not all of it, but enough to make it an easy upgrade choice for me.

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Thanks for the info on the early upgrade fees, darkslide!

Hands? Hands anyone?

Who tossed a perfectly good iP4S, and plunked down hundreds in penalties simply to buy the iP5?

cant wait for the iPhone 5s they will be introducing Siri's husband or cousin

delete

QCassidy352 said:

I find this attitude so strange. 4s --> 5 is the second biggest hardware change they've ever done (after 3GS --> 4). Bigger screen, thinner, lighter, new materials (including stronger glass), 2x processing power, 2x graphics power, 2x ram, faster wifi, better rear camera, much better front camera, new dock connector, new antenna design, better battery life, and oh yeah, LTE.

Don't get me wrong - I still have a 4s, and it's a great phone and runs iOS 6 really well. But they upgraded practically every aspect of the hardware from 4s to five. It's a huge upgrade compared to 3G --> 3GS, 4 --> 4s, or even original --> 3G.

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people are not satisfied because they are expecting innovation, not performance upgrades. i haven't seen evidence of definition innovation since Apple released the iPhone 4 (front/rear facing cameras, scratch resistant front/rear glass, circumferential multi-function antenna band, the list goes on...)

the 3GS --> iPhone 4 was such a leap in innovation that people have been expecting that "wow" factor for each model. unfortunately the iPhone 5 just doesn't do it. sales figures would contradict my statement, but let's be honest here - Apple has customers that will buy no matter what. that's a good thing, as it pushes up the value of my stock

i am an iPhone 4S owner and i can't come up with any logical reason to upgrade to the iPhone 5 when 90% of the features advertised at the conference come inherently with the iOS 6 upgrade. where the iPhone 5 will get its money's worth over keeping my 4S will be LTE data speeds and the screen size for watching a 2 hour movie. the 4S loads everything instantly, so i can't see how the iPhone 5 will do a better job than instant unless we're talking 2 years from now when we are on iOS 8. the front facing camera improvements would make Facetime video have better quality, yes. but to be honest, the quality on the 4S is still pretty darn good. the rear facing camera improvements, while Apple touts as being significant, seem trivial when the 4S takes amazing pictures already. for the average picture, you will not notice a difference unless you are deep diving into the photo.