Apple attracts new iPhone fans as existing owners await upgrade

San Francisco

APPLE Inc attracted a swathe of new iPhone customers over the holiday period, auguring well for a more significant upgrade to its flagship product this year - and the services revenue that these devices are increasingly generating.

Existing iPhone users upgraded to the latest iPhone 7 models at about the same rate as the iPhone 6S a year earlier, chief executive officer Tim Cook told analysts. Yet Apple still managed to sell 3.5 million more phones in the three months ended Dec 31, indicating that growth was driven by new customers.