Report: iPhones in highest demand for holiday gifts

Dive Brief:

Apple’s iPhone remains top of mind for holiday shoppers and ranks as the most requested gift of 2016, according to Piper Jaffray’s fifth annual Holiday Spending Intentions Survey, CNBC reports.
Although analysts have expressed disappointment in the nominal upgrades found in the iPhone 7, that doesn’t seem to have slaked demand, Piper Jaffray tech analyst and managing director Gene Munster told CNBC’s Squawk Box: In fact, demand for the smartphone has grown since last year, with 7.2% of people wanted an iPhone, up from 5.2% last year, according to the survey.
Apple's MacBook laptop appears on 2.1% of 2016 holiday wish lists, Piper Jaffray notes. The rest of the top 10 includes the Xbox and PlayStation gaming systems, GoPro video cameras, FitBit fitness trackers and drones.

Dive Insight:

Apple iPhone sales appear to be slipping, and that reality, plus the retailer’s own tepid holiday forecast, gave investors jitters in October. The fiscal fourth quarter saw Apple essentially treading water, in part because it hasn’t wowed consumers with innovative products: Sales in China alone were down 30% from a year earlier, and sales of services like Apple Pay, the App Store and Apple Music were instead a bright spot, rising 24% over year-ago figures.

“The change in Apple’s fortunes is partly down to the fact that it is no longer firing on all cylinders,” retail analyst Neil Saunders, CEO of research agency and consulting firm Conlumino, wrote in an email to Retail Dive about Apple’s quarterly results. “Previously, Apple was able to rely on strong sales of phones, tablets and computers to drive up revenue and profit across all geographies. This is no longer the case. Tablet sales are in decline. Growth from computers, which are long overdue a refresh, is weak. And consumers in some markets are saturated with product which makes growth much more difficult to attain. The latter is exacerbated by the fact that new releases, such as the iPhone 7, have been iterative rather than innovative.”

But Piper Jaffray’s survey shows that Apple’s devices continue to capture consumers’ attention, which bodes well for next year. No other smartphone landed on Piper Jaffray's top 10 this year.

Online shoppers spent $5.27 billion on holiday gifts over Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, up 17.7% year-over-year, according to Adobe Digital Insights. Black Friday alone contributed a record $3.34 billion in digital sales, increasing 21.3% from a year ago. As expected, electronics and toys dominated Black Friday shopping lists: Top-grossing electronics this year include Apple iPads and MacBook Air units, as well as Samsung and LG televisions and Xbox systems and games.

This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the 2016 holiday shopping season. You can browse our holiday page for more stories.