Apple’s latest iPhone 16 lineup appears to have missed the high expectations set by the brand, leading to a nearly 3% drop in its stock price, as reported by Reuters. This decline wiped out over ₹9.7 lakh crore in market value, driven by weaker-than-anticipated demand. One of the key factors behind this underperformance is the delayed integration of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) features, which many had expected to be a major selling point.
Last week, Apple launched its iPhone 16 series without significant AI upgrades, which may have dampened consumer enthusiasm. According to early pre-order data from BofA Global Research, shipping times for iPhone 16 Pro models—just three days after pre-orders opened—are shorter compared to last year’s iPhone 15 Pro models, suggesting lower global demand for the new release.
On average, the shipping time for iPhone 16 models is 14 days which is lower than last time’s 24 days for iPhone 15 Pro, at the same time the Pro max model shipping time was 32 days which is 19 days this time for the latest model.
"The key factor is the lower-than-expected demand for the iPhone 16 Pro series ... the major selling point, Apple Intelligence, is not available at launch," Ming-Chi Kuo, a Taiwan-based analyst at TF International Securities, said in a blog post.
Apple Intelligence is destined to be launched in the English language U.S. version in beta version next month, while other versions will be unveiled next year, potentially causing a fence for some customers about upgrading to the latest series.
According to Kuo, the pre-order sales of the first weekend for iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models dropped by 27% and 16%, respectively.
"The U.S. is much weaker than last year unless Apple massively increased supply allocation," Jefferies analysts said.
"We are not concerned if pre-orders don't show meaningful growth," D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said.
"The (AI) features will be rolling out gradually ... which means the upgrade cycle will likely materialize over the next 12-18 months."
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