There are many reports about the best-selling iPhone. But what is the most popular iPhone in use?
The most popular iPhone in use is the iPhone 7.
It’s widely reported that the iPhone 11 is the most popular iPhone in terms of shipments. However, DeviceAtlas data can reveal that the iPhone 7 remains the world's most popular iPhone in use.
Based on Q3 2020 data from over 100,000 partner websites worldwide, the table below shows the percentage of iPhone web usage by model.
These 18 iPhones account for 99.5% of all iPhone traffic recorded.
With a 10.35% share of iPhone traffic, the iPhone 7 remains the most used iPhone in 2020. The iPhone 8 is in 2nd place with 8.83%.
The 2020 best-selling iPhone, the iPhone 11, follows closely behind in 3rd place. Overtaking 2019’s best selling iPhone, the iPhone XR.
The most affordable iPhone series, the iPhone SE, feature in the lower third of the table. The iPhone SE, released in 2016, accounts for 3% of iPhone traffic. While the more recently released, April 2020, iPhone SE (2nd generation) entered our table in 18th position with a traffic share of 1.22%.
Most popular iPhones 2020 vs 2019
There has been a lot of movement in the popularity of iPhones compared to last year. The table below lists the iPhone model, its position in terms of popularity in 2020 and 2019, along with the position change.
iPhone popularity YOY comparison
| Model | 2020 Position | 2019 Position | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 7 | 1 | 1 | No change |
| iPhone 8 | 2 | 3 | Up 1 |
| iPhone 11 | 3 | N/A | New entry |
| iPhone XR | 4 | 14 | Up 10 |
| iPhone X | 5 | 4 | Down 1 |
| iPhone 7 Plus | 6 | 6 | No change |
| iPhone 8 Plus | 7 | 8 | Up 1 |
| iPhone XS | 8 | 11 | Up 3 |
| iPhone 6S | 9 | 2 | Down 7 |
| iPhone 6 | 10 | 5 | Down 5 |
| iPhone 11 Pro | 11 | N/A | New entry |
| iPhone 11 Pro Max | 12 | N/A | New entry |
| iPhone XS Max | 13 | 13 | No change |
| iPhone SE | 14 | 7 | Down 7 |
| iPhone 6S Plus | 15 | 10 | Down 5 |
| iPhone 5S | 16 | 9 | Down 7 |
| iPhone 6 Plus | 17 | 12 | Down 5 |
| iPhone SE (2nd gen) | 18 | N/A | New entry |
As mentioned, the iPhone 7 remains the most used iPhone worldwide. However, its popularity has decreased. 5.62% of all smartphones in our data was an iPhone 7 in 2019, this has dropped to 4.17% in 2020.
The iPhone 8 has moved up 1 position, from 3 to become the 2nd most popular iPhone.
The iPhone 11, released late 2019, is already the 3rd most popular iPhone in terms of market share.
The iPhone XR, which was released late 2018 and was the best selling iPhone in 2019, moved up 10 positions to 4th spot.
The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6 dropped 7 and 5 places respectively. The iPhone 6 is no longer supported by Apple and it is anticipated that the 6S will follow suit soon. This may have contributed, at least in part, to the drop in traffic share.
Similarly, the iPhone 5S dropped 7 positions – from 9 to 16. A drop was expected given that iOS 13 and now iOS 14 were not iPhone 5S compatible. I wouldn’t expect the iPhone 5S to feature in our table next year.
The iPhone SE also dropped 7 places this year. This coincides with the release of the iPhone SE (2nd generation), which has now entered our iPhone traffic market share table in 18th place.
Now that we have a worldwide view of the most popular iPhone, let’s get more specific and look at the popularity of iPhones across 36 different countries.
To detect the most popular iPhone model accessing your website, get enriched device intelligence for the web environment, here. Learn more about device detection, here.
iPhone popularity by country
The popularity of iPhones, and smartphones in general, differs from country to country.
The most popular iPhone in the US, in 2020, is the iPhone XR. While in the UK, the most popular iPhone is the iPhone 7.
Overall, the iPhone 7 continues to be the most popular iPhone in 2020. However, as mentioned there has been a drop in its traffic share. This coincides with the entry and adoption of the iPhone 11, which now features prominently in most of the countries in our data.
Interestingly, the high-performing, more affordable iPhone, the iPhone SE (2nd generation) features in the top 10 most used iPhones in just 3 of our 36 countries.
It was anticipated that the iPhone SE (2nd generation) would shake-up the mid-range smartphone market. While released relatively recently (Q2 2020), the stats so far don’t indicate a significant shake-up.
This, however, may change. To stay up to date with our insights and reports, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Below are the most popular iPhones, based on web usage, across 36 different countries.
For context and greater insight into the popularity of iPhone models within the overall smartphone market, the “Overall Share” column identifies the percentage share of overall traffic (includes all smartphones) for each iPhone model.
Skip to country:
The most popular iPhones by country
Argentina
Australia
| Country | Position | Phone model | Overall Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1 | iPhone 7 | 6.38% |
| Australia | 2 | iPhone 11 | 6.01% |
| Australia | 3 | iPhone 8 | 5.46% |
| Australia | 4 | iPhone XR | 5.29% |
| Australia | 5 | iPhone 8 Plus | 4.51% |
| Australia | 6 | iPhone X | 4.17% |
| Australia | 7 | iPhone 7 Plus | 3.9% |
| Australia | 8 | iPhone XS | 3.48% |
| Australia | 9 | iPhone 11 Pro Max | 3.36% |
| Australia | 10 | iPhone XS Max | 2.89% |
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Colombia
Egypt
France
Germany
| Country | Position | Phone model | Overall Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 1 | iPhone 8 | 4.66% |
| Germany | 2 | iPhone 7 | 4.43% |
| Germany | 3 | iPhone 11 | 3.32% |
| Germany | 4 | iPhone XR | 2.84% |
| Germany | 5 | iPhone XS | 2.71% |
| Germany | 6 | iPhone 6S | 2.61% |
| Germany | 7 | iPhone SE | 2.54% |
| Germany | 8 | iPhone X | 2.28% |
| Germany | 9 | iPhone 6 | 1.74% |
| Germany | 10 | iPhone 11 Pro | 1.55% |
Get access to a local trial version of DeviceAtlas.
Our high performance flagship product - the most complete data set.
India
Ireland
