iPhone 16 series is not as good as its predecessor: sales are lower than Apple expected

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently released a report on the iPhone 16 series, saying that its sales were lower than expected.

He said that the pre-order sales of the iPhone 16 series in the first weekend were about 37 million units, a decrease of about 12.7% compared with the iPhone 15 series in the same period last year. This figure did not meet Apple’s expected target.

This is partly due to Apple Intelligence, a core selling point that Apple failed to launch when it released the iPhone 16, while fierce competition in the Chinese market has also weakened demand for the iPhone.

Apple introduced at the press conference that the Apple Intelligence beta version will be launched next month, followed by multilingual versions, of which the Chinese version will be launched in 2025.

Apple Intelligence combines personalization with big models, and can provide users with big model services while protecting users’ personal privacy. With the support of big model capabilities, SIri is more intelligent, and users can communicate with it more naturally. It also supports typing input and can help users operate their mobile phones.

It is worth noting that although sales of iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 increased during the first weekend, this increase had limited impact on overall shipments.

Kuo added that although the Pro series did not perform as well as expected, Apple’s supply chain production plans will not change much in the short term, and the company still has the opportunity to increase sales after the launch of Apple Intelligence and in subsequent peak season promotions (such as China’s Singles’ Day).

He also mentioned that if the launch of Apple Intelligence in the fourth quarter of 2024 and China’s Double Eleven promotions fail to significantly boost sales of the iPhone 16 series, Apple may adopt a more aggressive product strategy in 2025 to stimulate market demand.