Apple positioned the iPhone 16 as the first model “built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence.” But until the company shared iPhone sales numbers, we didn’t know whether customers would care or not. Now, the answer seems clear.
iPhone 16 sales performance points to a bright AI future
Last week, Apple reported its biggest quarter in the company’s history: $124.3 billion in revenue.
Digging into the details revealed strong sales for Apple’s trio of flagship products: iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
iPad and Mac performed especially well, which may or may not have been due to an AI impact.
iPhone saw a very minor decline from the year before—but performed very well regardless.
Here’s why.
Tim Cook said the iPhone 16 family is outperforming the iPhone 15 family so far. That’s a significant data point.
Perhaps even more important, he mentioned that the iPhone 16 is selling better in countries where AI is available than ones where it’s not.
Currently Apple Intelligence is unavailable in the EU and China.
And China is very clearly the place that held back iPhone sales.
What does all of this mean?
That Apple’s AI narrative is working—at least so far.
Apple can celebrate iPhone success, but strengthening Apple Intelligence is the next big task
Whether you think Apple Intelligence offers compelling functionality yet or not, customers are putting up money to buy the new AI-centric iPhone 16 at higher rates than we’ve seen with past iPhones.
And the current struggles in areas where AI isn’t available are short-term hiccups that reflect significant opportunity ahead for Apple.
So overall it’s good news for Apple Intelligence, good news for iPhone sales, and now the biggest question is: will iPhone 16 users care about AI once they actually have it?
How will the all-important ‘customer satisfaction’ numbers turn out?
In other words, can Apple deliver a great AI product? We should find out soon with iOS 18.4’s upgrades, but iOS 19’s unveiling in June will prove especially telling too.
What do you make of Apple’s recent iPhone sales report? Let us know in the comments.
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