iPhone 16 supercycle stumbles as pre-order demand plummets amid delayed AI rollout, reports prominent analyst

For those awaiting the widely-speculated AI-driven iPhone 16 'supercycle', there appears to be some bad news. Prominent analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, through his newsletter on Medium, confirmed that the demand for the iPhone 16 series, which recently began accepting pre-orders, has been substantially lower than its predecessor.

Citing supply chain informants, Kuo reports that owing to lower-than-expected demand for the iPhone 16 Pro, the pre-order sales figure for the entire series has plummeted by a whopping 12.7% compared to the iPhone 15 series.

Apple Intelligence was expected to be the most significant driving factor behind the expected increase in adoption for the iPhone 16 series. However, Apple seems to have taken a staggered approach to the rollout of the many AI features, thus making Apple Intelligence entirely absent from the iPhone 16 series at launch.

With that in mind, Kuo further adds that poor pre-order sales are unlikely to affect production targets in the near-term. With the eventual release of Apple Intelligence, which will be followed by the all-important holiday quarter, Apple is expected to improve sales by a decent margin. Whether or not that turns out to be the case, will likely be proven in the coming quarters.

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