iPhone 16: Apple's smartphone sells better than expected, but not thanks to AI

Apple seems to be doing very well with sales of the iPhone 16 in China. The country still doesn't have Apple Intelligence, but users are falling for another feature.

The first sales reports for the iPhone 16 are starting to come in and they are surprisingly good in some countries. In China, where Apple has to compete with the giant Huawei, the iPhone 16 is achieving a 20% increase in sales compared to the previous generation in the first three weeks of marketing.

According to the Counterpoint Institute and the American media Bloomberg, Chinese consumers are turning more towards the most expensive models at namely the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The latter would achieve a net gain in sales of more than 40% compared to the previous 15 Pro and Pro Max models released last year.

However, the iPhone 16 faces a major challenge in both China and Europe: the absence of Apple Intelligence at the release of the smartphone. The arrival of Apple's artificial intelligence in China is likely to take a while given the country's laws and regulations.

The iPhone, however, remains a key object for Apple. While it obviously brings together many sales, it also serves as a springboard to encourage users to buy other products from the brand such as an Apple Watch or AirPods. It also allows the company to offer very interesting services such as Apple Music or Apple Care.

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The iPhone still accounts for half of Apple's sales. © Bloomberg

The iPhone 16 seduces with its new button

So how can we explain such a gain in popularity for an iPhone whose main new feature is not available ? According to several experts, two factors are mainly mentioned.

The first comes from the first buyers. The big sales of the iPhone 16 when it was released are not so much a surprise since Apple still benefits from loyal customers who are ready to change their smartphone as soon as the new model is released. This partly explains the sharp jump in sales in the first three weeks of the iPhone 16's release.

The other thing that seems to interest consumers is the “Camera Control” button. Apple journalist Mark Gurman keeps calling this new feature “vastly underrated.” This button, which lets you control the “Camera” app, as if it were a real camera case, could well encourage many users to fall for the iPhone 16. A new button that is already starting to make headlines among other brands since it is rumored that Oppo would also integrate a “Camera Control” button into its next phones.

Apple must however continue to offer innovations to face competition in China, particularly with the Vivo brand which recently announced its new smartphone Vivo X200 Pro, but also Huawei which should unveil new smartphones before the end of 2024.