While the iPhone 16 series has seen record pre-orders overall, demand for the Pro model falls short of expectations. The iPhone 16 Plus, however, has exceeded sales projections, suggesting a preference for larger, more affordable iPhones.
Apple launched its latest iPhone 16 series of smartphones at the company’s ‘its Glowtime’ event on September 9. There are four smartphones in the iPhone 16 series: the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Pre-orders for all four smartphones opened last week. According to a recent internet article, demand for the iPhone 16 Pro is not as high as anticipated.
Renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports that substantial pre-orders have been received for the iPhone 16 Plus, but demand for Apple's much awaited iPhone 16 Pro is lower than anticipated. Kuo recently said in a research note that Apple's internal expectations are not being met by the iPhone 16 Pro's early sales. The lacklustre demand for the iPhone 16 Pro models was the main cause of this reduction. "First-weekend pre-order sales for the iPhone 16 series are estimated at roughly 37 million units, down roughly 12.7% YoY from the first-weekend sales of the iPhone 15 series last year," Kuo stated.
There are several possible explanations for this. The fact that Apple Intelligence, the primary selling feature of the iPhone 16 Pro series, is not available at launch alongside the iPhone 16 release, is one of the main reasons for the lower-than-expected demand for the device. Furthermore, Kuo noted that the fierce rivalry in the Chinese market is still having an effect on iPhone sales.
Conversely, there has been a notable increase in pre-orders for the iPhone 16 Plus, with demand up 48% over the previous model. This implies that buyers are choosing more and more reasonably priced iPhones with bigger screens.
Apple is predicted to reach record-breaking sales for the iPhone 16 series overall, even with the uneven demand for the iPhone 16 Pro. Overall sales of the series are probably going to be driven by the iPhone 16 Plus's impressive performance and the iPhone 16's ongoing appeal. It remains to be seen how Apple will address the lower-than-expected demand for the iPhone 16 Pro.