We’ve looked into Apple’s most valuable product, the iPhone, to see how much the latest models cost and how many people in the UK own one of these smartphones. Since Apple does not publish its sales figures for the UK, we’ve looked into the price of each iPhone sold each year in the UK using readily available data on smartphone penetration rates. This type of insight is useful for those considering buying shares in Apple.
iPhone sales statistics UK: Highlights
An estimated 8.4 million iPhones were sold in the UK in 2023, around 23,000 a day.
In 2023, iOS holds around 37% of the total UK mobile market share.
232 million iPhones were sold worldwide in 2022.
To purchase an iPhone 15 (£799), the average Brit needs to work for 46 hours.
A typical Brit needs to spend 3% of their average yearly income after tax to buy an iPhone 15.
There were more than 1.3 billion active iPhones worldwide in 2022.
The iPhone 12 was the most popular iPhone in the UK in Q3 2023, with a 46% approval rate.
Apple generated over $200 billion (£150 billion) in revenue from iPhone sales in 2023.
There were more than 2 billion active Apple devices worldwide in 2023.
How many iPhones are sold in the UK each year?
An estimated 8.4 million iPhones were sold in the UK in 2023, which is around 23,000 sold every day. There were around 8.6 million iPhones sold in 2022 and a whopping 8.8 million iPhones sold in 2021.
It is estimated that 232 million iPhones were sold worldwide in 2022. This is down slightly from the estimated 242 million sold in 2021 but up from the 196.9 million sold in 2020.
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Apple generated just over $200 billion (over £150 billion) in revenue from iPhone sales in 2023. This is down slightly from 2022, when Apple generated $205 billion (£160 billion) in revenue from iPhone sales, but up from 2021, when iPhone revenue was approximately $192 billion (£150 billion).
iPhone price history in the UK: How long would it take to afford one?
To earn the money to purchase an iPhone 15 (£799), the average Brit needs to work for 46 hours. The cost of the basic model is almost 3% of the average yearly income after tax.
Below, you can explore the price history of different iPhones in the UK at release and how long it would have taken to afford it with the average hourly pay that year.
Model
Release date
UK price at release (GBP)
US price at release (USD)
Affordability of iPhone (hours needed to work on median UK hourly rate at launch to afford iPhone)
Average hourly pay in UK of release year
iPhone 15 Pro Max
22/09/2023
£1,199.00
$1,199
68.6
£17.48
iPhone 15 Pro
22/09/2023
£999.00
$999
57.2
£17.48
iPhone 15 Plus
22/09/2023
£899.00
$899
51.4
£17.48
iPhone 15
22/09/2023
£799.00
$799
45.7
£17.48
iPhone 14 Pro Max
16/09/2022
£1,199.00
$1,099
73.2
£16.37
iPhone 14 Pro
16/09/2022
£1,099.00
$999
67.1
£16.37
iPhone 14 Plus
07/10/2022
£949.00
$899
58.0
£16.37
iPhone 14
16/09/2022
£849.00
$799
51.9
£16.37
iPhone SE (3rd Gen)
18/03/2022
£419.00
$429
25.6
£16.37
iPhone 13 Pro Max
24/09/2021
£1,149.00
$1,199
73.4
£15.65
iPhone 13 pro
24/09/2021
£949.00
$999
60.6
£15.65
iPhone 13 mini
24/09/2021
£679.00
$699
43.4
£15.65
iPhone 13
24/09/2021
£749.00
$799
47.9
£15.65
iPhone 12 Pro Max
23/10/2020
£1,099.00
$1,099
72.5
£15.15
iPhone 12 Pro
23/10/2020
£999.00
$999
65.9
£15.15
iPhone 12
23/10/2020
£799.00
$799
52.7
£15.15
iPhone 12 Mini
23/10/2020
£699.00
$699
46.1
£15.15
iPhone 11 Pro Max
20/09/2019
£1,149.00
$1,099
77.1
£14.90
iPhone 11 Pro
20/09/2019
£1,049.00
$999
70.4
£14.90
iPhone 11
20/09/2019
£729.00
$699
48.9
£14.90
iPhone XR
26/10/2018
£749.00
$749
52.1
£14.37
iPhone XS Max
21/09/2018
£1,099.00
$1,099
76.5
£14.37
iPhone XS
21/09/2018
£999.00
$999
69.5
£14.37
iPhone X
03/11/2017
£999.00
$999
71.4
£14.00
iPhone 8 Plus
22/09/2017
£799.00
$799
57.1
£14.00
iPhone 8
22/09/2017
£699.00
$699
49.9
£14.00
iPhone SE
31/03/2016
£359.00
$399
26.3
£13.66
iPhone 7 Plus
16/09/2016
£719.00
$769
52.6
£13.66
iPhone 7
16/09/2016
£599.00
$649
43.9
£13.66
iPhone 6s Plus
25/09/2015
£619.00
$749
46.4
£13.35
iPhone 6s
25/09/2015
£539.00
$649
40.4
£13.35
iPhone 6 Plus
19/09/2014
£619.00
$749
47.0
£13.16
iPhone 6
19/09/2014
£539.00
$649
41.0
£13.16
iPhone 5s
20/09/2013
£549.00
$649
41.8
£13.13
iPhone 5c
20/09/2013
£469.00
$549
35.7
£13.13
iPhone 5
21/09/2012
£529.00
$649
41.2
£12.83
iPhone 4s
14/10/2011
£499.00
$649
39.3
£12.71
How many iPhone users are there worldwide?
Research shows that there were more than 1.3 billion active iPhones worldwide in 2022. Overall, it was reported that Apple had more than 2 billion active devices worldwide as of 2023 stats.
The number of iPhone users around the world has increased each year, going from around 10 million in 2008 to 1.3 billion in 2022, an impressive increase of 13240%. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of active iPhone users increased by 8%.
According to the figures for the first 9 months of 2023, Apple has a 37% iOS market share, with almost all the rest of the market taken by Android. The iOS market share has been close to the 40% mark since 2020, with some monthly fluctuation as it typically increases in the months following a new iPhone release.
Methodology
We estimated the number of iPhones purchased per year by adding the number of new iPhone users to the number of existing iPhone users who would want an upgrade. This was estimated by:
Number of new iPhone users:
The number of new smartphone users each year was found by multiplying the UK smartphone penetration (from Statista) with that year’s UK population, as reported by the ONS, and subtracting from this the product of the smartphone penetration and the UK population of the previous year.
This was then multiplied by the average market share of the iPhone that year, according to Kantar. (n.b. Kantar’s data was updated monthly, which meant that we added each data set together to find this average).
Number of existing iPhone users upgrading that year:
The percentage of people upgrading to new iPhones every year was calculated from the results of a Strategy Analysis study.
This showed that the average consumer upgraded their smartphone every 33 months.
The number of iPhone users in a year, minus the number of new iPhone users, gives the number of pre-existing iPhone users. This was then divided by the average number of years (2.75 years) iPhone users take to upgrade, which gives the number of iPhone users upgrading that year.
Click here for more research. For all media enquiries, please contact –
Matt Mckenna
UK Head of Communications T: +44 20 8191 8806
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Danny is a publisher at Finder specialising in insurance and investing. He previously worked at the global insurer Aon and has appeared in national media giving advice on insurance. Danny holds a BA in International Business from the University of Plymouth and has undying loyalty to his average-poor football team, Portsmouth FC. See full bio
Danny's expertise
Danny has written 350 Finder guides across topics including:
Sophie Barber is a content marketing manager for Finder in the UK after previously working as a content manager at a digital marketing agency. She has over 5 years experience in writing and publishing clear, concise and informative online articles for a variety of websites. See full bio
Sophie's expertise
Sophie has written 75 Finder guides across topics including:
Publishing original personal finance research
Creating data-led statistics pages to highlight industry trends
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