Survey finds 93pc of Apple shoppers want the iPhone 5s

More than nine tenths of a sample of 100 people queueing outside Apple’s Regent Street store said they were there to buy the iPhone 5s, with just one person wanting the iPhone 5c

A survey by Protect Your Bubble of people wanting to buy one of the new Apple iPhones has found that 93 per cent were waiting for the iPhone 5s, while six per cent wanted both.

That is according to the specialist gadget insurer, which surveyed a sample of 100 people in the queue outside Apple’s store on Regent Street before doors opened at 8am.

Protect Your Bubble said there were 2,860 people in the queue 10 minutes before the devices went on sale, with people travelling from as far as India, Oman, Norway and Latvia to be there. At the front of the queue was 17-year-old business student Noah Green, who had queued for 92 hours.

Of the people questioned, just one person was there to buy the iPhone 5c, with more than half believing they don’t think the smartphone is good value for money.

Almost four in ten (38 per cent) said they were queuing because they were “die-hard Apple fans” while almost a quarter (23 per cent) were there to be a part of the atmosphere. Nearly a fifth (18 per cent) were queueing as they missed out on pre-orders, but 13 per cent said they planned to buy the iPhones and quickly sell them for a profit.

Another seven per cent said they were being paid by others to wait in line, or were there to try and sell their space in the queue to the highest bidder.

Almost nine in ten (88 per cent) had owned an iPhone before and of these, 19 per cent had dropped or broken them, with 14 per cent damaging them with liquids. One in ten had had their iPhone stolen while 13 per cent had lost them. Despite this, less than half (43 per cent) said they had ever insured their hardware.

Protect Your Bubble global director Stephen Ebbett said: “There are very few examples of brands that have such massive power over consumers that they’ll queue in all weathers for days, just to be amongst the very first to get their hands on the latest Apple gadget.

“With just £80 between the 16GB versions of the iPhone 5S and 5C, it’s no wonder the 5S is more popular with some of Apple’s biggest fans. But this isn’t the most cautious queue. They’ve dropped and spilled liquids on their iPhones in the past, but just less than half have insured them.

“The majority of mobile claims we receive are for iPhones, and many people are simply not able to afford to buy a replacement handset, which is why comprehensive cover – which will repair or replace a broken or missing phone – is well worth considering.”