iPhone 16 Pre-Order Data Reveals Pro Models Are Not Tempting Enough This Year

The iPhone 16 series has been up for pre-orders starting Friday, September 13. The debut weekend for the iPhone 16 gives an idea of which model got the most love, and pre-orders. According to Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the demand for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max is less than what Apple expected. On the flip side, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus secured more pre-orders during the first weekend compared to last year’s iPhone 15 & 15 Plus. Interestingly, the iPhone 16 Plus is the bestseller during the debut weekend.

As per Kuo’s pre-order analysis, the iPhone 16 lineup reached about 37 million units in the first weekend, marking a decline of nearly 13% compared to the first weekend sales of last year’s iPhone 15 series. Kuo mentioned the key factor for lesser sales is the lower demand for the Pro models. This data is based on a “supply chain survey” and ship times on Apple’s online store. Here’s what Kuo found from his analysis:

• iPhone 16 Pro Max pre-orders are 16% down compared to last year.
• iPhone 16 Pro first weekend sales are 27% down compared to last year.
• iPhone 16 Plus pre-orders saw an impressive jump of 48% compared to last year.
• iPhone 16 is 10% up compared to last year’s iPhone 15.

This year, people seem to be more interested in the vanilla models, rather than the higher-end Pros. We can say this at least for the first weekend of iPhone 16 sales. Despite impressive growth with the iPhone 16 Plus, the lower-than-expected demand for the iPhone 16 Pro is far outweighing it.

Kuo said one of the major reasons for the decline in the iPhone 16 Pro demand is the absence of much-hyped Apple Intelligence features on the devices when they launch on September 20. Instead, Apple will roll out its AI features in October with the iOS 18.1 update. Also, the suite of AI features will be rolled out in stages, with some additions even arriving late in 2024 or early 2025. At the moment, the Apple Intelligence charm isn’t working for people. Kuo also mentioned that Apple is facing massive competition in China.

According to Kuo’s numbers, Apple had really high hopes for the iPhone 16 Pro Max and produced 6 million units of this flagship before launch, which is up 106% from what they did last year. Another reason for the growing iPhone 16 & 16 Plus demand could be the fact that the vanilla models are now more in line with the Pro models. The Camera Control button is available across the lineup and iPhone 16 colors are pretty good this time.

The holiday season ahead could significantly boost iPhone 16 sales, and the top-selling models often change by the end of Apple’s fiscal first quarter. In the coming months, we’ll get to know more about how the iPhone 16 performs.

Are you planning to upgrade to the iPhone 16 series? Which model will you go for? Tell us in the comments below.