On October 21st, the price reduction of multiple models in the iPhone 16 series made the "Apple fans" who bought the new Apple phone in advance feel unsatisfied.
At present, the "Double 11" promotion is about to start, and many manufacturers' models have already started significant price reductions, including Apple. It is reported that from 20:00 on October 21 to October 24, the official flagship store of Apple Tmall will offer a 500 yuan coupon for all iPhone 16 models, with a starting price of 5499 yuan. The most popular iPhone 16 Pro Max model will have a starting price of 9499 yuan. It is worth noting that this is also the first official channel price reduction since the release of the new device.
The reporter noticed that there is still greater room for price adjustment for the iPhone 16 series on some third-party channels and e-commerce platforms.
Regarding the price reduction of the iPhone 16 series, Guo Tianxiang, Research Manager at IDC China, analyzed to reporters that the smaller price reduction this year compared to last year means that the price reduction is under Apple's control and the price system is not chaotic. This is also a consequence of last year's significant price reduction - many users are waiting for the price reduction to buy, and are in a wait-and-see state. With the subsequent price reduction and the launch of Apple's smart products, it is expected that Apple's sales will not be worse.
In the past, iPhone was once considered the most valuable smartphone, but now in order to increase market share and product sales, Apple has also adopted methods such as trade in, installment interest free payments, and direct price reductions to promote discounts.
At present, the outside world is paying more attention to the shipment situation of the iPhone 16 series. Recently, multiple news websites reported that Barclays Bank analysts Tim Long and George Wang pointed out in a report that an investigation into the iPhone 16 series supply chain found that Apple may have reduced its iPhone 16 series production in the fourth quarter due to lower than expected demand. Component procurement data shows that the iPhone 16 series has cut approximately 3 million orders.
However, Tian Feng Securities analyst Guo Mingchi subsequently published his research results on social media: "Assembly orders have hardly changed, and some components have slightly reduced orders since mid November (mainly the 16 Standard Edition and 16 Plus), but the magnitude is less than 3% to 5%, which can be basically ignored. The next focus of observation is the impact of Apple Intelligence's launch in late October on demand/shipment in the US market." Guo Mingchi believes that overall, maintaining the production estimate of iPhone 16 in the fourth quarter of this year from 88 million to 89 million units is slightly lower than last year's 90 million to 91 million units.
On the afternoon of October 21st, market research firm Counterpoint Research told reporters about the shipment of iPhone 16 series: "Compared with last year, the shipment volume of iPhone 16 series is flat. Even if Chinese Apple Intelligence is launched later, the sales volume will not suddenly increase, but will slowly grow
It is reported that Apple Intelligence can understand and generate language and images, and can also replace users to perform operations, simplifying the process of operating across multiple apps. For example, Siri has stronger contextual understanding with the support of Apple Intelligence. In addition, Apple has announced a partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into Siri, allowing Siri to directly access the features of ChatGPT.
In addition, the latest data released by Counterpoint shows that global smartphone sales in the third quarter of this year increased by 2% year-on-year, which is the first time since the third quarter of 2018 that they achieved year-on-year growth in the third quarter. In terms of manufacturers, Samsung and Apple's sales were tied year-on-year in the quarter, and Apple became the top selling brand in September, thanks to the early release of iPhone 16.
Canalys data shows that in the third quarter of this year, Samsung narrowly defeated Apple and occupied the first place in the market, while Apple's market share reached 18%, ranking second. Canalys analyst Runar Bjrhovde emphasized, "In the third quarter of this year, Apple's shipments reached the highest level in the same period of the year, and it has never been so close to the position of the world's number one in terms of shipments. Despite the mediocre initial response, with Apple Intelligence expanding into new markets and supporting more languages, it is expected that the iPhone 16 will help Apple maintain strong growth in 2024 and continue its momentum into the first half of 2025
Canalys analyst Le Xuan Chiew commented, "The gap between the top five manufacturers has narrowed, and the competition has become more intense. Manufacturers are welcoming the holiday shopping season with a steady momentum and cautious optimism, aiming to attract consumers who have postponed upgrading their devices due to major promotions such as Double 11 and Black Friday