iPhone 7 on shopping list of just 10% of people polled
That's assuming Apple doesn't add any sexy, must-have features to this year's model.
This year's follow-up to the iPhone 6S may not entice a lot of buyers, according to a new poll.
The next iPhone may not exactly shoot up the sales charts, according to a new poll conducted by online magazine Quartz.
Just 10 percent of US iPhone owners said they would be likely or very likely to upgrade this year if Apple doesn't redesign its marquee product, according to a survey of 525 US iPhone owners. That's a significant difference from the 25 percent of respondents either extremely interested or very interested in upgrading with each new iPhone redesign.
iPhone sales sank for the first time in the first quarter of 2016 and are expected to show another drop in the second quarter. A new design on the phone, likely to be called the iPhone 7, might spur interest. But many reports say this year's model will have only minor physical changes and that next year's version will be the one to thrill consumers with enticing enhancements.
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Back to the poll results: Around 46 percent said they wouldn't at all be likely to upgrade to this year's iPhone if it didn't get an overhaul. Around 33 percent said they wouldn't be so likely to do so. And 11 percent said they would be somewhat likely to upgrade. Altogether, 90 percent of the respondents essentially said "meh" to a new iPhone without major new features.
A report that popped up in May from Japan's Nikkei newspaper said Apple might switch to a three-year cycle for each major new iPhone upgrade instead of the current two-year cycle. How might the respondents react to that move? A hefty 70 percent said they would be somewhat, very or extremely likely to change their upgrade habits to match Apple's three-year cycle.