The majority of US iPhone buyers take their business to carriers and forgo Apple’s own stores. Per a report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), 79% of the people in the States get their iPhone from a carrier – of them 52% go to a store and only 27% do it online.
When you account for a few other channels, it leaves Apple with just 17% direct iPhone sales, of which 11% are in Apple stores. It makes sense – carriers have thousands of brick-and-mortar locations, while Apple has about 300.
Online sales reached a peak at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, with around 50% of total iPhone sales. But since then retail stores have gradually taken back their share.
