iPhone 16 Plus in high demand, iPhone 16 Pro pre-orders down: report
Pre-orders for the iPhone 16 series began on September 13, but demand for most models globally is high, according to a market analyst. The iPhone 16 Plus is said to be Apple’s best performer, having seen the highest growth in pre-orders compared to the previous generation. On the other hand, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max models are seeing less demand, despite shorter lead times and up to 100 percent more units ready to ship.
Ask for iPhone 16 series pre-orders
In a blog afterTF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed that both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are seeing higher year-on-year (YoY) demand than their previous counterparts. The standard model is said to have 10 percent more pre-orders in the first weekend, while demand for the Plus variant is up by as much as 48 percent despite a longer average delivery time compared to the iPhone 15 Plus.
The total first weekend pre-order sales of the iPhone 16 series are estimated to be around 37 million units — a decrease of about 12.7 percent compared to last year. One of the major contributing factors is said to be a declining demand for the iPhone 16 Pro models. The pre-order volumes for the iPhone 16 series are attributed to the introduction of the new tetraprism lens on the iPhone 16 Pro, as well as a stable pricing strategy like last year.
According to Kuo, the lack of Apple Intelligence features (the company’s artificial intelligence suite) at launch could be one of the reasons behind the low number of pre-orders. Features such as writing tools, a smarter Siri, Clean Up tool and Image Playground were first shown off by the Cupertino-based tech giant at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 in June. While a handful of them are scheduled to debut with the iOS 18.1 update next month, some have been delayed until next year.
However, the analyst also suggested that there is still hope that Apple will increase its iPhone 16 sales after the release of Apple Intelligence and during the holiday season. The tech giant is expected to implement aggressive strategies to revive market demand for its new flagship iPhone models.
