Basing his evaluation on slipping ship instances from Apple’s ordering internet web page, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that Apple is seeing decrease demand for the high-end iPhone 16 fashions and better gross sales for the common iPhone 16, together with the iPhone 16 Plus.
Whereas these claims are solely primarily based on preliminary demand, Kuo claims Apple offered round 37 million items on the brand new iPhone’s first weekend. He says that that is down 12.7 p.c from the iPhone 15 lineup debut.
The iPhone 16 Plus, which begins at $899, is up 48 p.c over the iPhone 15 Plus from final yr, regardless of the complete new lineup retaining the identical value factors. The common iPhone 16’s preliminary gross sales are up 10 p.c over the iPhone 15’s debut weekend.
In the meantime, the iPhone 16 Professional at a base value of $999 is down 27 p.c in comparison with final yr, whereas the Professional Max — which begins at $1199 — is down 16 p.c, in line with Kuo’s examine. One issue which may be weighing into the debut ordering equation is the truth that all fashions might be getting the much-hyped Apple Intelligence options as they roll out over the following few months.
The truth that one of many marquee options of iOS 18 won’t be transport with the brand new items however will roll out in levels over the rest of 2024 and early 2025 may be an element. That mentioned, the robust enthusiasm for the Plus mannequin, together with the smaller discount within the Professional Max’s gross sales, reveals that many early adopters nonetheless do desire the larger-sized iPhones.
Kuo believes that Apple roughly doubled manufacturing on the preliminary iPhone 16 Professional Max mannequin in comparison with the iPhone 15 Professional Max, getting ready some six million items forward of the debut. Apple tends to not talk about precise gross sales figures, and it’s too early to inform if demand will proceed within the present sample, or change as the brand new iPhones turn into stocked in shops.
The upcoming vacation season is prone to play an enormous position in early demand for all the new iPhone fashions. The combination of prime sellers usually change by the top of Apple’s fiscal first quarter.