The iPhone 7 was recently released and has become something that almost all students can talk about. Since college students are the target audience for new technology, there has been talk all around campus pertaining to the new phone.
iPhone 7 sales have greatly boosted cell phone sales at local phone retailers.
“The iPhone 7 sells well with college students. We sold out the first week and we had more on order. The store is still averaging two or three sales a day, which is a lot for AT&T,” AT&T sales representative Christa Oshodi said.
AT&T is not the only one having a sales increase due to the new iPhone. Sprint is experiencing the same increase in consumer activity.
“Ninety percent of our sales are college students. The iPhone 7 brought more business to our store and it has been so busy that our staff has been staying after hours on some nights for about an hour to an hour and a half to keep up with the demand,” Sprint sales representative Brookelyn Winters said.
With an increase in sales in store, there are also numerous orders that were placed on pre-order as well as online. If students do not directly buy from Apple, the cell phone providers are responsible. Deals and upgrades are also common with online purchases through cell carriers.
Most college students tend to look for the best deal when it comes to a new phone, but Apple stays fairly consistent with their pricing, regardless of the carrier. The average cost of a new iPhone 7 with the standard 32 GB of memory comes in at about $32 a month or $649 up front. Depending on sales tax and activation fees, it may range within a few dollars.
The new features of the iPhone recieve mixed reviews among students. Some of these features include a new home button, waterproof, new colors, and a higher quality camera. The phone also does not have a headphone jack.
“Most people aren’t too thrilled with the headphone jack decision,” Winters said.
The generation enjoys simplicity, and removing the headphone jack requires consumers to buy bluetooth headphones or plug in an adapter into the charging port on the phone, which means you cannot charge and listen to music at the same time. This can be a turn off for some students.
Price is also a big consideration for college students. The older iPhone 6s costs $549 for the standard 32 GB; this is now $100 less than the iPhone 7. However, price does not stop some students.
“Can I call my mom and ask?” is the main question that AT&T sales representative Kyle Wilkerson receives when he is talking to students about the new phone.
The iPhone 7 is also available as a 7 plus, which is about $769. This phone has two cameras and is bigger in size compared to the 7. There are also new colors options for both the iPhone 7 and the 7 plus; black and jet-black.
Despite the price and the new features, the iPhone 7 is selling very well among college students in Bowling Green and is also creating a huge impact for local cell service providers such as AT&T and Sprint.
