It’s a howling XS

Newest Apple phone looks like a hit

When it comes to iPhone sales, “XS” marks the spot.

Apple’s newest phones — the iPhone XS and XS Max, are off to a hot start compared to last year’s 8 and 8 Plus models, a research report out Thursday revealed.

The latest batch of smartphones saw 1.1 percent of iPhone owners trade up to the newest models, according to Flurry Analytics, which boasts “insight into 2.5 billion devices worldwide.”

Last year’s new crop of smartphones from Apple — the 8 and 8 Plus — saw just 0.75 percent of all iPhone owners trade up, according to Flurry, which compared first-week device activations from 2018 and 2017.

For perspective, the massively popular iPhone 7 and iPhone 6s still command a combined 27.8 percent share of the market.

Flurry acknowledged that the phones were released under different circumstances — the 8 came a full month before the hotly anticipated iPhone X — while this year more budget-conscious Apple fans are wait- ing for the iPhone XR to hit stores.

But sales of the XS and the XS Max are not expected to slow, the analytics firm said.

“We believe [this] trend will continue over the holi- days,” the study says.

The firm also compared combined first-week revenue of the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and newly released X with the first-week revenue of the XS, XS Max and newly discounted X, and found that Apple generated 7 percent more revenue this year.

While Apple’s newest phones are its most expensive ever, with respective starting prices of $999 and $1,099 for the smaller and larger models, the X has received a $100 discount to $899 from some retailers.

“Consumers are buying the discounted, lowerpriced X aggressively,” Flurry wrote.

The researchers also found that size matters to Apple customers, with the XS Max selling 1.6 times as many units as the XS.

Apple shares finished the day down 1.8 percent, to $227.99.