As the hype around Apple’s latest iPhone 16 series reveal settles down, shares of the company fell nearly 3 per cent on Monday after several analysts said that delivery times for the new iPhone 16 Pro models indicated weaker-than-expected demand.
They slumped about 3 per cent to start Monday trading, paring their gain this year to roughly 12 per cent, trailing the 15 per cent advance in the Nasdaq 100 Index.
Apple smartphones account for nearly half of the company’s revenue and therefore any impact to the sales of that segment have immediate consequences for the Cupertino-based company.
Pre-order sales have tallied an estimated 37 million units, TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote in a report, according to Bloomberg.
That figure is down almost 13 per cent from last year’s iPhone 15 launch and is a result of weaker-than-anticipated interest in the Pro model of the iPhone 16, notes Kuo.
First-weekend pre-order sales for the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models were down 27 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, according to Kuo’s estimates based on each model’s delivery time and production plans.
“One of the key factors for the lower-than-expected demand for the iPhone 16 Pro series is that the major selling point, Apple Intelligence, is not available at launch alongside the iPhone 16 release,” Kuo said in the report.
Apple is positioning its latest devices as class-leading AI-capable smartphones. However, Apple Intelligence, its AI software, will only be rolled out in a staggered manner across select markets.
Apple Intelligence will first launch in US English, and will expand to include localised English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK in December, with additional language support — such as Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish — next year.
It will be available as a free software update as part of the iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 updates.
With the Apple Intelligence features set to arrive on devices only in December in markets such as Australia, even those who buy the phone in the markets where it will be released now will not be able to fully explore their iPhone’s AI features until later this year.
Early pre-order data from BofA Global Research also revealed shorter global shipping times for the iPhone 16 Pro models compared to last year’s 15 Pro models. Shipping time on average for the iPhone 16 Pro currently stood at 14 days, lower than 24 days for the iPhone 15 Pro last year, while the 19-day shipping time for the iPhone 16 Pro Max compares with 32 days last year.
While companies such as Samsung, Google and Motorola have already released AI-enabled smartphones earlier this year, those devices feature the full suite of AI software – giving them a significant headstart over Apple who is now playing catch-up.
