iPhone 16 Pro Demand Has Been Lower Than Expected, Analyst Says

I really may return mine and put the $1300 in wheels for my truck. My 15PM is working just fine.
 
I have an 11 Pro and I'm only considering upgrading because the 64 GB of storage isn't enough for me. But it wasn't enough 12 months ago and I've learned to deal.

The thing is, the latest iPhones just don't have anything exciting worth upgrading. My first iPhone was a 4S and I upgraded to the 5S after that. That offered Touch ID, a larger screen, and a processor that was probably twice as fast. Moving to a 6S, another larger screen, way faster processing. Then to the 8... eh. The X gave us Face ID but I waited. 11 Pro I got 3 camera lenses, faster Face ID. But the 12, 13, 14, 15, 16? They were incremental upgrades from the previous version and those versions didn't buzz me enough to upgrade.

I think, at this point, the iPhone has matured. There's not anything that I can imagine would be something amazing to make me upgrade. Below screen Dynamic Island maybe? Even if they change it back to curved sides or make it a bit wider, that wouldn't be that exciting.

The shape is probably the best. The aspect ratio is great. Form factor is great. Camera array is best.

All I really want is more storage and I'd be a happy camper.
 
madrigal77 said:
You mean half a decade of the same basic design and people aren't feeling the need to upgrade anymore!?!?
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Same with cars. Once they figured out that four wheels are more stable then two and some other things people upgraded less often. Good thing. It's fine if some folks want and can get a new phone or car every year but good that most don't need to.
 
I’ll be interested to see what the impact of the thermal changes is in real-world scenarios such as being outside on a warm, sunny day. One of my biggest gripes with my 13 Pro is the fact that iOS decreases the maximum allowed brightness within a few minutes of being outside on a warm, sunny day to the point that the screen is barely readable in sunlight.

My understanding from people who have the 14 Pro and 15 Pro is that this continued to be an issue with those models, as well. We’ll see if the 16 Pro is any better.
 
Recycled design from iPhone 4 then 4s, 5, 5s, SE 2016, 12, 13, 14, 15 and now 16 that's 10 iPhones with the same design, I still like the design but ultimately people get bored. The 16 is as boring as their WWDC pre-recorded keynotes.
 
avanpelt said:
I’ll be interested to see what the impact of the thermal changes is in real-world scenarios such as being outside on a warm, sunny day. One of my biggest gripes with my 13 Pro is the fact that iOS decreases the maximum allowed brightness within a few minutes of being outside on a warm, sunny day to the point that the screen is barely readable in sunlight.

My understanding from people who have the 14 Pro and 15 Pro is that this continued to be an issue with those models, as well. We’ll see if the 16 Pro is any better.
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My 15 Pro Max doesn’t dim the screen as much as the 13 Pro and the 14 Pro.
The worst was 12 Pro actually.
 
Does this surprise anyone? Economy isn’t great, the cost of everything is high, and a lot of people are locked into 36 terms on the previous phone and can’t afford to do a full pay off of the existing term to upgrade.
 
Kuo said a major reason for the iPhone 16 Pro models having lower-than-expected demand is that Apple Intelligence will not be available on the devices when they launch on Friday.
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Doesn't take an analyst to understand the reason for the lower-than-expected demand is the 16 Pro is such a minimal upgrade on the 15 Pro. Slightly bigger screen, slightly bigger battery, the usual nominal processor/camera upgrades, and that camera control button. Nothing "must have" or a long-awaited update (E.g. USB-C last year).

Apple really shot themselves in the foot by not at least introducing a new colour or a colour we haven't had for a while in a Pro (red, green?). The 'Desert Titanium' is for all intents and purposes Rose Gold to most. I might have been persuaded to get a 16 Pro with a different/new colour, but I'm just going to keep my Natural Ti 15 Pro for another year.

Also there being no major difference between the Pro and Pro Max, just different screen and battery sizes.
 
klasma said:
Kuo also wrote that the higher 16 sales don’t compensate for the lower 16 Pro sales, which means it’s not just a shift from Pro to non-Pro.
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I'm curious to know the number of upgrades example from iPhone 8, X, Xs, 11 etc vs iPhone first-timers. One thing for sure the sentiment is down.
 
holmesf said:
I am sure also that using the same A18 chip (A18 pro just has 6 vs 5 GPU cores ... mostly irrelevant) in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro is also doing no favors to the Pro sales.

Pro buyers are getting it for the screen (OLED, Promotion, and to a lesser extent "always on") and the telephoto camera. But those features have been present in various incarnations for years (2017 OLED, 2021 Promotion, 2022 "always on" and 5x telephoto on Pro Max)
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The chip isn't the same. The A18 isn't just some binned A18 pro, it has a whole section of the chip devoted to media encoding, etc., and an EXTRA INSTRUCTION SET for ML. You can't just bin that out.

That said, if you only noticed the extra GPU and you were on the fence, maybe the Pro isn't for you. It's actually kinda awesome that the 16 and 16 Pro are this close this year.

And despite the fact that I'm pointing out that the chips aren't the same, I actually DON'T care about those things, and I AM only getting the 16 pro because of the 5x telephoto. My iPhone is my main camera, and I'm still carrying an iPhone 11. I think I get to upgrade to the extra-nice phone this time around.
 
Every year, the same rumors are publishes. Lowest sales ever, no one wants the phone, etc. And, every year, Apple says that trying to figure out their supply chain is next to impossible, and you shouldn't rely on that.

Then, like a miracle, Apple reports their sales numbers and everyone is shocked because they sold so many devices!

The story basically writes itself.
 
Chungry said:
None of that is meaningful upgrade from last year. I wonder how useful a mono-tasking button is for camera. The interface Apple showed off is going to confuse old people. The screen is still awful and the camera changes could actually be worse for everyday usage since the 3 to 5x jump is such a drastic difference when composing. Charging is, whatever I guess that’s good. Most of the pro camera features - I’d love to know the breakdown of who actually uses that stuff. The majority want point and shoot. Is the pro phone actually a pro video and photo phone but not Pro as in professional? I suspect so
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I have to wonder who cares about year-on-year upgrades anymore, though. I still have an iPhone 11. I pay attention to the upgrades every year, but $1500 CDN is a huge price to be on a one or two year cycle. I'm unwilling to wait another year to get the 16 pro used (I want that 5x optical zoom) but I'm at 5 years and so this upgrade is going to be AMAZING. I think we're starting to see the upgrade cycle really start to slow down. I keep all my Apple stuff for 4+ years now. Series 6 watch, first gen M1 Mac Mini. Despite the incessant whining of Android people about Apple stuff, it's so incredibly well built, you can easily keep it for 4-5 years. And at that point, the announcement every year isn't targeting the people that bought a phone last year, it's targeting people like me, deciding if this is my year to get something new.
 
For a long time, many upgraded every year or cycle. I have been a buyer for 5 to 6 years, changing models. So, I am not in that catalog of people who do yearly upgrades. Those who do, are happy doing so. Those who complain about innovation only want new toys yearly. A company that produces consumer products cannot make everyone happy year after year with any consumer product on the market.
 
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RealMonster said:
an EXTRA INSTRUCTION SET for ML. You can't just bin that out.
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False. The A18 Pro does not have any hardware features not supported by A18 outside of the media block. There is no extra instruction set for ML.

RealMonster said:
maybe the Pro isn't for you.
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Lol. I'm literally a Pro iOS developer with 20 years of Apple programming experience. Look at the age of my Macrumors account for a moment and notice it was registered in 2001.
 
It’s a dumb story. The iPhone pre orders are really just for the ppl who are always going to preorder anyway. Apple will still sell a ton of these, just over the course of a year.
 
I am planning to upgrade... maybe. I have a 12mini and love it. Dont really want to upgrade but the 12 is getting a bit long in the tooth. Might go with a 15 or might just try and squeeze another year out of the 12. Will probably depend on Apple Intelligence.
 
I bought a 15 Pro last year because my X was no longer supported by Apple.

I don’t need to spend $1000 one year later just to have a special camera button when I can take photos just fine without one, and I still get AI when it’s released. I plan to keep 15 Pro for several years at least.
 
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