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iPhone 16 Pro Demand Has Been Lower Than Expected, Analyst Says
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European here, not going to update, someone should rerelease iphone event, but take out all of the apple intelligence parts, will be much shorter presentation and realistic view what Europeans and rest of the world will get... also worst and most boring event ever.
Three friends of mine all said they would buy the 16 Pro after the keynote ended. But all of them changed their minds between the keynote and the pre-order day. I suspect price was the main reason though none of them outright said that.
And it's not as if these iPhones cost more than prior ones, I believe in my country it's the same as the iPhone 15 Pro was for the same quantities of storage. It's just hard to justify buying a £999-£1199 iPhone (base prices for the Pro and Pro Max) when you already have an iPhone that is supported by Apples software updates.
We all know the upgrade timelines people are doing are getting longer every few generations. From every year, to every other year, to every three years. Now my friends are between 3 and 4-years between upgrades and I suspect at-least one of them will drop to a 5-year upgrade cycle.
I've ordered an iPhone 16 Pro Max to replace my 13 Pro Max so I'm not a 16 hater by any stretch, but I'm not blind to reality, even groceries cost twice what they did just a couple years ago so something like an iPhone for someone who already has one that is still supported (which thanks to Apple is 5-7 years of updates) it's obviously going to be the first thing culled.
I also think it's telling that the non-Pro is selling better than the 15 non-Pro did. The 16 has a lot of the 16 Pro features now (though for me 120Hz is sorely missing) at a couple hundred dollars less and in the current economic climate people are looking for better value.
And it's not as if these iPhones cost more than prior ones, I believe in my country it's the same as the iPhone 15 Pro was for the same quantities of storage. It's just hard to justify buying a £999-£1199 iPhone (base prices for the Pro and Pro Max) when you already have an iPhone that is supported by Apples software updates.
We all know the upgrade timelines people are doing are getting longer every few generations. From every year, to every other year, to every three years. Now my friends are between 3 and 4-years between upgrades and I suspect at-least one of them will drop to a 5-year upgrade cycle.
I've ordered an iPhone 16 Pro Max to replace my 13 Pro Max so I'm not a 16 hater by any stretch, but I'm not blind to reality, even groceries cost twice what they did just a couple years ago so something like an iPhone for someone who already has one that is still supported (which thanks to Apple is 5-7 years of updates) it's obviously going to be the first thing culled.
I also think it's telling that the non-Pro is selling better than the 15 non-Pro did. The 16 has a lot of the 16 Pro features now (though for me 120Hz is sorely missing) at a couple hundred dollars less and in the current economic climate people are looking for better value.
I think Kuo is wrong on the whole apple intelligence thing. not enough people pay attention to that to care. it's more down to how expensive everything is these days and many can't and won't justify paying for new phones.
Touch ID? That really sounds like a long shot, but it would be cool if Apple surprised us with that. Unlikely to happen, but then again they did activate a temp sensor on the HomePod mini.
It's quite funny. I know literally 0 people who would buy a Phone to get Apple Intelligence.
First it is like: "We expect high demand for the this year's iPhone release because of Apple Intelligence."
Then: "lower than expected because all of the features are not ready on day one"
And next year: "Turns out, people don't really care"
Ai features is getting shoveled into every piece of software and hardware imaginable, and i guess for most people Apple Intelligence is just a fancy frontend for chatGPT. And they most likely access that freely anyway. So what's the USP?
I’m probably not surprised looking at they’ve changed very little and they’ve made it bigger and heavier
Not everybody wants their phones, bigger and heavier, I’m still using an iPhone 13 Mini because I really hate big phones.
If I need my to do any more interesting shots, I have a Sony Camera which ironically has a bigger sensor and a bigger lens, so it does better better photography, I have a laptop shockingly, if that situation, I have a 16 inch screen
If I want to watch a video, I have a 42 inch TV at home that I can perfectly happily watch videos on and not worry about battery life.
Finally, yealy releases of phones are pretty pointless, especially when they’re so small and incremental most people keep their phones for 3 to 5 years as the contracts are longer than 12 months.
I also like the fact that Apple has now moved to buy your phone now get your features later, I failed to believe that any future iPhones will be revolutionary anymore.
Not everybody wants their phones, bigger and heavier, I’m still using an iPhone 13 Mini because I really hate big phones.
If I need my to do any more interesting shots, I have a Sony Camera which ironically has a bigger sensor and a bigger lens, so it does better better photography, I have a laptop shockingly, if that situation, I have a 16 inch screen
If I want to watch a video, I have a 42 inch TV at home that I can perfectly happily watch videos on and not worry about battery life.
Finally, yealy releases of phones are pretty pointless, especially when they’re so small and incremental most people keep their phones for 3 to 5 years as the contracts are longer than 12 months.
I also like the fact that Apple has now moved to buy your phone now get your features later, I failed to believe that any future iPhones will be revolutionary anymore.
Yeah, had Apple included 120Hz with the 16 and 16 Plus, it would’ve been a no-brainer to get those models. Maybe it still is despite the 60Hz. Apple probably knew from surveys or whatever that an iPhone 16 with a 120Hz display would’ve taken cannibalization of the Pro models to a new level. You think demand is low now.
You know what is broken? People and how they think. Upgrade a phone every year when it is perfectly functioning is madness. And most of the time people do it on borrowed money.
I suspect it got justified two ways:
1. Tactically: Spatial photo and video capture for Vision Pro (which also necessitates nudging people toward landscape photos/video), and another distinguishing physical capability for phones now that they are just rounded rectangles with screens and sensor cutouts.
2. Strategically: Context for AI. The new Siri design sets the stage for you to ask Siri to do things in a particular app against a particular document or webpage. Quicker camera access sets the stage to be able to ask questions based on a particular real-world context; the current location or current camera viewfinder: "what kind of plant is this", "what are the reviews for this restaurant", "when was this built", etc.
Apple could make folding iPhones “revolutionary”, at least in their marketing of it and some people will eat it up like usual.
Minuscule upgrades, larger screens size (yes, there are people who don't want huge tables for phones), overall minor upgrades, and overall increased cost of living are probably all the factors to consider. Plus, the Apple Intelligence is not what the tech community is hyping it up to be. Majority of people (at least from what I noticed around here in France) don't even know it exists or care.
I think most people don't know to care. Sure, the pro is just more expensive with a better screen and a better camera - but it is a budget choice.
LMAO to the excuse of the low demand. Because of AI update. Is this for real ? 🤣
Still see no reason to ditch my Xr.
Don't care bout high refresh, or OLED use the camera only to document work stuff and for sure wouldn't bother play demanding games on a phone.
So as long as the battery holds up (91% atm) and security updates keep coming....
Who would buy new iphone 16 in EU without any new features from apple intelligence this year?
This is exactly why upgrades are down. These analysts seem to forget most of the west is in a bit of finacial turmoil at the moment and people tend to not prioritise phone upgrades as often as they may have used to.
Phone don't change an awful lot year on year either.
Lesson learned. 6GB can’t do AI, I don’t think 8GB will be enough for the next gen AI. “Apple intelligence 1” which was developed in hurry will be replaced soon. So before I spend money on my next phone it must come with at least 12GB, better 16GB of ram.
I bought it because I was already planning to, as I think was the same for most buyers.
I really don’t think most people care about AI, it could have been available Day 1 and I don’t see the numbers changing all that much.
For the end-user, AI is going to end up being a flop.
Now for enterprise, that’s another story.
I really don’t think most people care about AI, it could have been available Day 1 and I don’t see the numbers changing all that much.
For the end-user, AI is going to end up being a flop.
Now for enterprise, that’s another story.
Apple Intelligence is not the buying factor for the phone. People do not care. Tech people do, but your average consumer does not.
exactly, I think some of these tech people live in a dream world and don't realise what's going on in the real world.
Thing is it's been "better microphones and thermals" for maybe 7 years already. That's never what drew Apple customers in the first place. I'm actually hoping for people to stop buying so that they're forced to innovate again, at the consumer and not just hardware-level.
I really did consider the 16 pro max, coming from a 13 pro max. But looking at costs to upgrade (even after a trade in) I just can't justify it at the moment for the minuscule upgrades that I won't even use.
I imagine a lot of people are in the same boat.
The UK is in a mess right now (another topic of discussion), so it really doesn't make sense.
I imagine a lot of people are in the same boat.
The UK is in a mess right now (another topic of discussion), so it really doesn't make sense.
Kind of shocking to me that they went with a bulkier, heavier design for the Pro Max this year. Feels like a downgrade more than an upgrade…don’t think many people were asking for a few extra millimeters of screen space or an even bigger, heavier battery. Cynical part of me thinks they made the 16 Pro as fat as possible so next year’s slim redesign can be marketed as that much thinner/lighter compared to the previous model…