Analyst tempers iPhone 16 excitement as key suppliers douse hopes of a sales bonanza

The iPhone 15 lineup at the Apple Store in Nanjing East, Shanghai, China.

(Image credit: Apple)

Despite previous rumors that Apple may be increasing the number of iPhone 16 components it orders from suppliers, one analyst has weighed in to pour cold water on those claims.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo cites two key Apple suppliers when reporting that iPhone 16 orders may not have increased at all and, what's more, they remain slightly less than the iPhone 15 orders placed during the same period in 2023.

This would suggest that, contrary to reports, Apple does not expect the iPhone 16 to be a stronger seller than the model it will replace later this year.

All the iPhones

Writing in a Medium post, analyst Kuo cited Apple suppliers TSMC and Largan as both reporting that they have not seen a growth in orders and are expecting to supply a similar number of devices as they did last year.

"My understanding is that some suppliers have seen an increase in iPhone 16 orders for 2H24, but from the EMS/assembly perspective, the iPhone 16 orders for 2H24 have not seen much change (about 87 million units), still slightly lower than the 2H23 iPhone 15 orders (about 91 million units)," the analyst explained.

As for the reason some suppliers may have seen an increase in orders, it's thought that it "might be related to specific reasons within individual industries or components." However, the launch of Apple Intelligence is not thought to be a factor.

Apple is expected to release the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max in September around the same time that iOS 18 is made available to the public.

More from iMore

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.