Up to date July 19 with particulars on decreased orders within the iPhone 16 provide chain.
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 10: (L-R) Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner, Apple senior vp of machine … [+]
With demand for Apple’s iPhone slowing down, how will Tim Prepare dinner and his staff lure shoppers to its ecosystem? Knowledge from analysts CIRP present that demand for the iPhone —particularly the present iPhone 15 mannequin—is decrease than that of the iPhone 14 on this quarter. This echoes the sample of decrease demand seen in Q1 2024.
Replace: Friday July 19: Whereas there may be speak of a man-made intelligence growth when Apple launches its generative AI-capable iPhones, that speak shouldn’t be but mirrored within the provide chain. Two main element producers within the provide chain aren’t anticipating progress as a result of elevated orders.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stories on earnings calls from TSMC and Largan, and their forecasts for the approaching yr are much like final yr.
“My understanding is that some suppliers have seen a rise in iPhone 16 orders for 2H24, however from the EMS/meeting perspective, the iPhone 16 orders for 2H24 haven’t seen a lot change (about 87 million models), nonetheless barely decrease than the 2H23 iPhone 15 orders (about 91 million models).”
With Apple the most important participant on this market, any elevated order to cowl the upcoming iPhone 16 household would positively impression their projections. Because it stands, it’s the identical story as 2023; strong gross sales however nowhere near unlocking an untapped market because of AI.
Attendees take a look at the model new Apple iPhone 15 throughout an Apple occasion on September 12, 2023 (Photograph … [+]
The report additionally highlights a method Apple is hoping to show round gross sales. Nevertheless it’s a chance that asks for persistence from the fickle smartphone market.
Apple can be wanting in the direction of one key issue within the iPhone 15 household, which is already accelerating Android gross sales. Generative AI has reworked the view of what a smartphone can provide shoppers, from enhancing images and movies, by way of summarising and evaluation of textual content and pictures, to aiding creativity.
Following the announcement of Apple’s AI plans at June’s Worldwide Developer Convention, shares within the firm rose seven %, totally on the promise of elevated iPhone gross sales. Due to the excessive calls for generative AI locations on {hardware} and Apple’s push to course of as a lot person information on the person’s system as doable, Apple Intelligence will solely run on one current iPhone mannequin—the iPhone 15 Professional Max.
Shoppers with out the costliest iPhone in the marketplace might want to purchase the newest iPhone {hardware} to entry the A18 Professional chip particularly designed to help generative AI routines.
But the AI that the iPhone is clearly missing proper now won’t be obtainable till the primary quarter of 2025. Tim Prepare dinner and his staff can be asking the Apple devoted to purchase the smartphone on the promise of receiving the AI in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later.
In the meantime, all of these advantages can be found on Android and have been since Google launched the thought of an AI-first smartphone in October 2024 in the course of the Pixel 8 launch. With Google’s Pixel 9 household as a result of be introduced in August, Apple’s iPhone can be two generations behind Android’s AI efforts earlier than it has even left the Cupertino stage.
Will shoppers be comfortable to attend for Apple to catch as much as the competitors, or will they resolve that the AI revolution can not wait? If it’s the previous, then Apple’s determination to “go lengthy” ought to assist revitalise gross sales of the iPhone. But when it’s the latter, the Android ecosystem might have simply discovered Tim Prepare dinner’s Achilles heel.
Now learn extra about Apple’s iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Professional launch plans…
