Apple Shares Down Because of lower Demand of iPhone 16 Pro Models

US devices maker Apple’s stock fell nearly three percent on Monday. Some analysts had said that the demand for the Pro models of the iPhone 16 series launched last week may be less than expected. The main reason for this is the delay in bringing features related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) by the company.

The US version of the company’s AI software Apple Intelligence may be launched in beta next month. Other versions of this may come next year. Because of this, some customers are reluctant to upgrade their smartphone to iPhone 16. Pre-orders for these smartphones started last week. The company’s demand for the iPhone 16 Plus of this series has increased the most compared to previous iPhones. Apple is getting fewer pre-orders for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said in a blog post that demand for iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus has increased on a year-on-year basis compared to the same models of the previous series. Apple has received about 10 percent more demand for iPhone 16 and about 48 percent more demand for iPhone 16 Plus in the first weekend of pre-orders. The iPhone 16 series is estimated to sell around 3.7 million units in the first weekend of pre-orders. This is about 12.7 percent less than the iPhone 15 series introduced last year.

Kuo said that the lack of Apple Intelligence features at the launch of the new iPhone series could be one of the reasons for the low number of pre-orders. Recently, at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple showcased features like Writing Tools and Image Playground. The iOS 18.1 update to be released next month will have only some of these features and the rest of the features will be introduced next year. The demand for the iPhone 16 series may increase in the upcoming holiday season. In the country, Apple has reduced the prices of the previous series iPhone models by up to Rs 10,000. The price of the iPhone 15 introduced last year and the iPhone 14 introduced in 2022 has been reduced by Rs 10,000 on the company’s online store.