In the world of consumer products, general logic would dictate that across a range of devices, from expensive flagship devices to reasonably priced products, one would expect the latter to outsell the former.
Higher-priced products are usually seen as aspirational and attention-grabbing, serving more to attract people to buy from the range rather than to grab the best model. Take carmaker Porsche, for example: the 911 is its iconic sports car, but in 2024 the brand sold more of its cheaper Cayenne and Macan models. Same for Tesla: its Model Y outsells its flagship Model S.
It’s odd, because while we’ve had these models on our best phones list, I think the TechRadar phone team and I would probably recommend the cheaper models as the phones that suit both people best. Still, the sales numbers don’t seem to bear that out.
And I suspect the same will be true this year, as when I did a reader poll on which iPhone 17 model people actually bought, the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max combined took 50% of the vote, with an even split between them.
This isn’t hugely surprising, as anecdotally I see more people with the Pro iPhone than their standard stablemates, although those people don’t seem to be creative professionals who need a trio of rear cameras for content production, or mobile gamers who want the power of the Pro-grade A-series chip; I could generalize here, but I’ve been writing about phones for years, so have a gut for this.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that when you’re spending, say, more than $700 / £700 on a smartphone, it’s not too painful to push a bit more to get a full-fledged flagship model. Or that Apple and Samsung have done such a good job of showcasing their high-end phones that people don’t just aspire to get them, but actually buy them. After all, a phone is probably one of the most used devices you have these days, so it might make sense to get the best you can afford.
But I’d like some more context, so use the poll above to tell me the most important aspect of an iPhone Pro that makes you choose it over the standard models. And if I’ve missed anything here, let me know in the comments below.
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