iPhone XR Revisited: The best iPhone Apple can't sell

C. Reliability. After three months of use, the amazing battery life makes it the most reliable iPhone I've had for many years.

The answer: All above.

Apple's $ 749 iPhone XR, introduced in September as a cheaper alternative to $ 999 XS and $ 1,099 XS Max, does not sell as well as the company had hoped, especially among Chinese customers. Analysts may be reluctant to use the F-word (flop, duh), but Apple has cut the production forecast and offers steep substitute discounts to sell more. But none of it is a knock on the quality of the phone itself.

The fair Goldilocks phone is still the best iPhone for most Apple customers. I should know. I set aside my pricier, technically better iPhone X when XR was released in October and not looked back. I don't miss the lighter OLED screen, I rarely think of the missing telephoto lens and don't mind the slightly thicker, bigger building. And I love the colored glass back. I went with the red one.

I haven't been this content with an iPhone this year for one reason: Battery life. While I used to charge dinner to get it to bedtime, I can now reach 1[ads1]0 am without entering the red one. A few Sundays ago I went to bed without charging my phone. I didn't understand until I was on the train to the office the next morning. My battery percentage was still around 15%.

So if people like me love this phone so much and recommend it so much, why is it not selling better?

Theory 1: People already have good phones.

Apple's biggest competition is not other new iPhones – or even new Android phones – it's the iPhone's people already have in their hands.

I am an early adopter and technical critic. Although my old phone gave good foot massage, I would still dig it for the latest and greatest. iPhone announcements are my Super Bowl. But more people ignore the news zone and just look up to upgrade when something is wrong. They are happy with the phone's already known camera, processor and monitor.

The average American smartphone operator now holds phones for 32 months, up from 25 months the year before, according to consumer tracking service NP. Similar patterns have been reported among Chinese iPhone owners.

And in 2018, Apple made older iPhones better. First came Apple's battery upgrade program, which allowed people whose older phone batteries lost the opportunity to replace them for just $ 29 down from $ 79. (This deep discount ended with the new year.) When Tim Cook mentioned this in a CNBC interview in last week, his implication was that so many people took advantage of it. The company lost sales of new phones.

Then came iOS 12, which made older model iPhones more creepy. People woke up to find phone alerts and responsive, as if they had spent a week at a spa and were ready to return.

Theory 2: People have great cheaper alternatives.

My friend Dave decided it was time to upgrade from his old blue iPhone 5c, but wanted to avoid the X models because of their pricing – and the fact that they no longer have their beloved home button . He ended up buying a $ 599 iPhone 8.

Apple allows older phones to stay on shelves longer than ever. Heck, my mother-in-law has just bought a brand new iPhone 6S. Hey, don't be jealous of the headphone jack. (She bought it through Boost Mobile, but Apple just stopped selling it directly.) Upgrading from the smaller ones, but now finishing the iPhone SE, she made her decision about the price.

Today, Apple offers seven different iPhone models, not including storage variations. My mother-in-law told me all the possibilities that made her head hurt.

In China, consumers choose more affordable Android phones. Chinese brands like Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo offer similar looks on all screen phones for much less money. In addition, Chinese users largely rely on platform agnostic messaging and payment services such as WeChat, unlike Apple's proprietary iMessage. Jump between iPhone to an Android phone is not great.

Theory 3: XR is a great, but overlooked, middle child.

It's not the cheapest, and that's not what has the best specifications, ie the XS and the mega size XS Max. The XR is to turn off cost-cutters and status seekers alike. So it makes sense that Apple is trying to lure buyers to the XR with a $ 449-with-trade-in deal. (Just be careful about the fine print in one.)

My last thought: Apple's not very good, very bad quarter has been good for Apple customers. We have good handsets in our hands that work for a long time, we have more discounted options when it's time to upgrade, and the best iPhone starts at $ 250 less than Apple's top model.

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Write to Joanna Stern at joanna.stern@wsj.com