As eager buyers lined up outside Apple’s San Francisco retail store on Friday to upgrade to the latest iPhone 16 and 16 Pro, their new purchase was there. not clear.
Apple Intelligence, AI unit analysts agree will prompt consumers to upgrade their iPhones, Business Insider reported earlier, was not included in the new iPhones out of the box. The feature — which includes AI-powered Siri, an image generator, and AI-generated emojis — will be released in several software updates starting in October.
Ron Witt, a San Francisco resident and loyal iPhone user who recently upgraded from the iPhone 15 Pro, told Business Insider that Apple Intelligence piqued his interest.
“Happy is not the right word,” he said. “I think I’m more impressed.”
For Witt, and many customers who spoke with BI, Apple Intelligence was not the main thing to improve.
“It’s always been a camera for me,” Witt said, adding that he’s used an iPhone since the device’s debut 17 years ago.
One customer said his phone was too old. Others told BI that they were just serial updates.
Meanwhile, in New York, customers lined up outside Apple’s Fifth Avenue Store included those looking to upgrade old phones and those switching to the latest model whenever they can.
Saul Campos says he buys a new iPhone every year, and this year was no different.
“In general, I’m in it for the cameras because I take a lot of pictures, and they improve them every year,” Campos told BI, noting that he was happy with the Camera Control button, which allowing users to slide their fingers. swipe it for camera controls — to zoom in, adjust focus, or tap it to take a photo or video.
Outside Apple’s Manhattan retail store on Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that it was too early to say how demand compared to last year but said “something and another is zealous.”
Experts also said that the excitement outside Apple stores this week is clear. In a post on X on Friday, Mark Gurman, Bloomberg’s resident Apple guru, wrote that “this morning has been amazing.”
Despite the queues, data shows that pre-sales have reached this year – perhaps due to the absence of Apple Intelligence. Apple supply chain expert Ming-Chi Kuo, who analyzed data on first-week sales, said they were down 12.7% year-on-year compared to first-week sales of the iPhone 15.
Kuo suspects two reasons for the dip. “One of the key factors for the lower-than-expected demand for the iPhone 16 Pro series is that the main selling point, Apple Intelligence, is not available at launch alongside the iPhone 16 release, ” he wrote in a post on Medium. In addition, strong competition in the Chinese market continues to affect iPhone demand. ”
BofA Global Research also found that all iPhone 16 models had shorter global shipping times than last year’s iPhone 15 models, suggesting lower demand, Reuters reported.
According to the report, the analysis focused on preorder data from three days after Apple made the new phones available for early purchase. The average worldwide shipping time for the iPhone 16 was 7 days compared to 9 days for the iPhone 15. Shipping times for the 16 Pro Max were 11 days compared and 19 days for 15 Pro Max.
But Gil Luria, an Apple analyst at DA Davidson, told Reuters that early data was not useful and estimated that, as AI features are rolled out gradually, “the development cycle could be completed in months.” the next 12-18.”
The extent to which Apple Intelligence will have customers is also being questioned.
A survey published on September 4 by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, which Techradar reported on, showed that 44% of respondents are upgrading because they feel that their phone “is no longer working.” Only 18% of respondents said they are upgrading for “new features.”
Witt, a SF resident, told BI that he remembers the hype surrounding the first iPhone years ago when he was in downtown San Francisco. Since then, Apple has implemented an online ordering system that helps reduce long wait times, but overall, Witt said nothing compares to the excitement when the first iPhone was released.
“It’s a lot easier now,” Witt said.
An Apple spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment sent over the weekend.