Apple says XR top-selling iPhone since launch

The iPhone XR has been Apple's best-selling smartphone since it went on sale in mid-October, a company executive said on Wednesday.

“Since the iPhone XR became available, it’s been the best-selling iPhone each and every day that it’s been on sale,” Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of product marketing, told Reuters.

XR is currently Apple’s “most mainstream product and our most popular iPhone,” he added.

The comments came as string of negative forecasts from smartphone suppliers in recent weeks has sparked concerns that the model might not be performing as Apple had hoped.

The iPhone XR, which costs US$749, was announced alongside two other models, the iPhone XS and XS Max, which start at US$999.

The XR brings many key features of those phones to a lower price point, with the move seen as an Apple effort to bring facial recognition unlocking and its newest processing chip to a wider set of buyers.

In addition to including many of the features from its higher-priced models, Apple also made the iPhone XR available in the broadest color palette for iPhones since the iPhone 5C released in 2013, Reuters noted.

Apple is planning to promote the red version of the iPhone XR as part of Product Red, the charity effort that gives a portion of sales of red-colored products to the Global Fund for programs to address HIV and AIDS.

Joswiak told Reuters that the company has raised US$200 million for the Global Fund so far. Apple plans to promote the red products during and after World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.

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