iPhone 16 Pro pre-sale demand falls short of expectations

The iPhone 16 series pre-orders have already begun. The new iPhone 16 offers a revamped design, a handful of new features and, most interestingly, it is the first device to feature Apple Intelligence. But, according to the pre-booking analysis, these features are not enough to attract new buyers. Ming-Chi Kuo’s latest pre-order analysis reveals Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are underperforming, with demand falling short of expectations. However, the standard iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus models are showing promising sales, outpacing their predecessors from last year.
Compared to last year’s demand for the iPhone 15 series, Apple’s flagship iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models are seeing muted demand. The report, published in Medium, states that this observation is based on the iPhone 16’s first-weekend pre-orders for each model, including pre-order sales, average delivery times, and shipments before pre-order. Post-analysis, Kuo found that the iPhone 16 Pro Max is facing a 16 per cent low demand as compared to last year. The iPhone 16 Pro demand has been recorded even lower than the Pro Max, with 27 per cent.
Meanwhile, it was also recorded that the base models are receiving higher demand. The iPhone 16 demand is up by 10 per cent and the iPhone 16 Plus is up by 48 per cent. This indicates that buyers are far more interested in spending on the base models than going for the powerful Pros.
The iPhone 16 series sold approximately 37 million units in its opening weekend, a 12.7 per cent decline from the iPhone 15 series’ debut. Although the iPhone 16 Plus saw significant growth, the slump in demand for the iPhone 16 Pro model offset those gains, contributing to the overall decrease in sales.
The iPhone 16 Pro series’ lower-than-expected demand can be attributed, in part, to the fact that Apple Intelligence, a major selling point, is not available at launch, which has likely impacted consumer interest and sales. Despite efforts to boost sales by introducing a tetraprism camera on the iPhone 16 Pro and keeping prices consistent with the previous series, the impact on first-weekend pre-order sales for the iPhone 16 has been minimal.
During the launch, the iPhone 16 Pro models were showcased as the most powerful Apple smartphone so far, thanks to th A18 Pro chipset. The chipset promises to deliver a faster performance, improved thermals and longer battery life. But it looks like this was not enough.
While the iPhone 16 series is the first one to come equipped with iOS 18, the Apple Intelligence will take a little more time to come. It is expected to come with the next update, iOS 18.1 in October. But it is true that the iPhone 16 Pro models are similar to the iPhone 15 Pro models.
The crux of the matter is that if you’re already using the iPhone 15 Pro, the improvements in the iPhone 16 Pro might feel incremental and not very revolutionary. This might be the biggest reason for a drop in the iPhone 16 Pro’s demand.