iPhone 16 Supply Reportedly Increased by 10%, but Analyst Claims Apple Intelligence Won’t Be a Major Contributor

The iPhone 16 series will be a part of Apple’s announcements during the “It’s Glowtime” event scheduled for September 9. With various upgrades expected in the new models, including support for Apple Intelligence, Apple likely believes these will drive increased demand. Consequently, a new report estimates that iPhone 16 supply has increased by 10% compared to the iPhone 15 series from last year.

Analyst Believes Apple Intelligence Features Are Promising, but 2025 Might Be a Significant Year for Apple

A report from Nikkei Asia mentions that Apple has ordered its suppliers to increase iPhone 16 supply to between 88 million and 90 million units. This isn’t the first time Cupertino has been reported to be eyeing a 90-million shipment target for 2024, as Bloomberg previously made this estimate. China will likely account for most of this initial shipment, but the report notes that the region will be more challenging for Apple to dominate due to Huawei’s resurgence.

Moreover, Jeff Pu, Managing Director of Haitong Securities, suggests that Apple Intelligence won’t be a huge selling point for any iPhone 16 models. Instead, he believes that 2025 will bring more opportunities for Apple as it can expand on its generative AI features. However, earlier analyses concluded that Samsung’s Galaxy AI was pivotal in customers upgrading to the Galaxy S25 models en masse, so we will continue to observe how accurate this prediction is.

As for what customers highlighted as the primary reason to upgrade to any iPhone 16, Apple Intelligence was not at the top of their list, with a survey revealing that competitive pricing and a capable cooling system were their main preferences. Still, remember that just like the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, all iPhone 16 models are rumored to ship with 8GB RAM as standard, which might not be sufficient. For those wanting to skip the upcoming generation, you will be pleased to learn that the iPhone 17 lineup is said to arrive with 12GB RAM, opening numerous possibilities for generative AI-related functions.