iPhone 4 launch stats: 77% upgrades, possibly 1.5M sold

We knew that the iPhone 4 was going to sell well, particularly since Apple sold out its initial 600,000 phones available for pre-order in a single day. Now, the morning after the launch, analysts are beginning to push out their findings from customer surveys, in addition to revised sales predictions.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster interviewed 608 iPhone 4 customers in San Francisco and came across some interesting numbers, according to Fortune. His key findings: 77 percent of buyers were upgrading from an older iPhone — up from 56 percent in 2009 and 38 percent in 2008. 16 percent switched carriers to AT&T, down from 28 percent in 2009. And 54 percent went for the larger 32GB model, compared to 43 percent last year.

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Munster estimated that Apple would sell between 1 to 1.5 million iPhones in the first three days. Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reimer figured that Apple would sell 1.5 million phones as well. Reimer’s own survey results buoy Munster’s findings: He found that 76 percent of iPhone 4 buyers were upgrading, and 21 percent moved to AT&T for the device. 41 percent of the new AT&T customers came from T-Mobile, and 28 percent from Verizon.

The most intriguing numbers among all of this are the upgrade figures. It goes to show just how loyal many iPhone customers are, as well as the power of Apple’s in-built audience. The increasing trend towards the larger storage option is also interesting: It’s a sign that the iPhone is increasingly becoming the sole portable media device for many consumers.

A previous analyst report figured that Apple would sell 2 million iPhone 4’s before Saturday — a number that doesn’t seem all that far-fetched now. In comparison, Apple recently announced that it sold 3 million iPads in 80 days, and Google says it’s selling 160,000 Android phones every day.

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