Research Finds Only 18% of People Upgrade Their iPhones for New Features

The iPhone 16 launch is right around the corner, but does the fact that there’s a new iPhone on the horizon push people to upgrade? Maybe not.

New research from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) shows that the new features and capabilities coming to iPhone might not be enough to make people upgrade. In fact, only 18 percent of the customers responding to CIRP’s survey said they upgrade to the iPhone 16 based on new features. The survey was conducted to allow open-ended answers, which CIRP categorized into groups, including things like how old or obsolete their existing phone is, if there is physical damage or the phone has been lost or stolen, or if the respondent wanted access to new features.

According to the survey results, the greatest reason people upgrade their iPhone is because there is something wrong with it, with the the age of the phone being the biggest complaint, meaning it won’t work with current apps or software. Nearly half (44 percent) of respondents said this was why they would upgrade. Another 29 percent said they would upgrade because something was physically wrong with their phone, like a broken screen, buttons that don’t work, etc. Not at all surprising, only about one percent of people upgrade to an iPhone because their friends and family have one.

That doesn’t necessarily mean people won’t upgrade to one of the new iPhone 16 models when announced on September 9. No, it just means that the way people justify those upgrades is influenced by the condition of their phone more often than by the lure of fancy new cameras, more powerful AI, or better screens or sound quality.

Regardless of what’s pushing the upgrade, it’s sure that Apple will have a few sparkly new additions to the iPhone 16 lineup along with new Apple Watch 10 announcements, and maybe even a few surprises to share during the upcoming Glowtime event.