Things aren’t going the way Apple was hoping. Before September, analysts reported that Apple would be building more iPhone 16 phones, mostly upping the number of Pro models produced. Now that the first week of pre-orders is done, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo compiled data that shows that pre-orders are down and it’s mostly the fault of the two Pro models (the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus numbers actually went up!).
Let’s look at the results from last week’s poll to try and figure out what went wrong. Apple didn’t increase the prices, which was great to see. The higher charge rates over USB-C and MagSafe are great too, plus all new models have enough RAM and NPU performance for Apple Intelligence. That said, the two vanilla models are still using 60Hz displays. It doesn’t have to be LTPO panels, Apple, but even cheap-o phones have 120Hz displays these days.
Anyway, at 6.9”, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is too big for 15% of voters. 13% are looking at an older generation iPhone for this or other reasons. The 15 Pro Max is a more manageable size and it has mostly the same cameras, except for the 48MP ultra wide.
The 6.3” screen on the iPhone 16 Pro was a much better idea, barely anyone thinks that the size of the phone is an issue. But nearly half of voters are saying that they are moving to Android. Even older generations of iPhone Pro aren’t that appealing, maybe Apple has been resting on its laurels for too long. Whatever it is, at 17.7%, the Pro model has the highest positive vote.
The iPhone 16 Plus saw a massive 48% jump in pre-orders compared to the 15 Plus, but the total numbers are still way, way below the others. People don’t know what to think of this one. Many plan on getting a Pro instead or grabbing an older model – with no size increase, the only tangible upgrade this generation is the new side buttons – some are moving to Android and many just don’t care about the Plus.
The iPhone 16 got 15.1% positive vote, coming second after the 16 Pro, and the highest percentage of people (8.9%) who might decide to get one after reading the reviews. Some are tempted to get a Pro model this time around, but few (well, relatively few) are thinking of going with an Android instead.
It seems that Apple misread what consumers want – it had big hopes for the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but instead the model is struggling. It will probably still end up the top seller of the four, though. Kuo speculated that the delay of Apple Intelligence kept pre-orders for the two iPhone Pro models down and sales will improve once that arrives (and the upcoming holiday season will help too). One way or another, the Q1 2025 report from Apple is going to be an interesting one.
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