The latest iPhone launch is going down like a lead balloon with reviewers, with the primary complaints being that the phones are sold on their AI capabilities, which won’t arrive until later, and that the hardware isn’t a significant improvement over last year.
However, those reviews are ignoring Apple’s target market: iPhone users who haven’t upgraded in four years.
It’s a well-known problem in the smartphone market that sales are slowing. Quite simply, mass-market users don’t see the need to upgrade their devices and will use them until they break. We tech nerds want the latest and greatest. We read articles comparing 200 photos from the latest Pixel vs. the latest Galaxy, we get excited or appalled by what’s in the latest beta version, and we ponder whether the iPad really needs to be that thin.
But your average consumer (read: the mass market), who actually generates 99.9% of all phone sales, doesn’t really care. They usually don’t even care if their device is getting security updates—they just want a device that works.
Case in point: my wife. She’s using an iPhone 11 Pro that she upgraded to a few years ago because her iPhone 6 couldn’t hold a charge anymore. When the time came, she wanted a phone with a great camera and battery life for taking family photos on the go. Even when I talked to her about the 16’s dedicated camera button, she saw it as a nice “nice-to-have” feature, not a necessity. As for AI, she’s an avid user of image generators and, guess what, they run in the browser on all her devices anyway. She doesn’t need to upgrade. What she does have is a cheaper phone bill because she finally paid off the 40-month loan she had for the last one. She’s not eager to take on that cost again.
So, until the screen breaks or the battery dies, she’ll keep her iPhone 11. Even I, a tech nerd who does want the latest gadgets, held onto my Galaxy Note 9 until it got water damage and the screen fried. I desperately wanted the newer versions of Android, but that desire simply wasn’t worth the cost—especially not in this economy.
So, what is the iPhone 16 if it’s not the generational leap reviewers seem to be clamoring for?
It’s a level playing field for Apple Intelligence, the iPhone’s new suite of AI features.
In previous iPhone launches, there were actually different generations of Bionic processors in the standard and Pro models of the same year’s release, creating measurable performance differences between them. But no more! Every device in the iPhone 16 lineup shares the A18 and A18 Pro chips, ensuring they are all capable of the same Intelligence functionality.
Too bad none of those features are ready for release to be tested!
But this shows that Apple has a long-term plan for Apple Intelligence to be a service and revenue stream well into the future. They need to ensure that all those iPhone X, 11, 12, and 13 users who are finally going to upgrade will become potential AI customers, whether they choose the entry-level iPhone 16 or the largest 16 Pro Max.
The iPhone 16 range isn’t meant to be the big, exciting, must-have gadget. Instead, it’s Apple leveling its own playing field and establishing the foundation for its new AI platform. Whether it works or not, only time will tell.
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Not excited about the iPhone 16? It isn't for you!
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The latest iPhone launch is going down like a lead balloon with reviewers, with the primary complaints being that the phones are sold on their AI capabilities, which won’t arrive until later, and that the hardware isn’t a significant improvement over last year.
However, those reviews are ignoring Apple’s target market: iPhone users who haven’t upgraded in four years.
It’s a well-known problem in the smartphone market that sales are slowing. Quite simply, mass-market users don’t see the need to upgrade their devices and will use them until they break. We tech nerds want the latest and greatest. We read articles comparing 200 photos from the latest Pixel vs. the latest Galaxy, we get excited or appalled by what’s in the latest beta version, and we ponder whether the iPad really needs to be that thin.
But your average consumer (read: the mass market), who actually generates 99.9% of all phone sales, doesn’t really care. They usually don’t even care if their device is getting security updates—they just want a device that works.
Case in point: my wife. She’s using an iPhone 11 Pro that she upgraded to a few years ago because her iPhone 6 couldn’t hold a charge anymore. When the time came, she wanted a phone with a great camera and battery life for taking family photos on the go. Even when I talked to her about the 16’s dedicated camera button, she saw it as a nice “nice-to-have” feature, not a necessity. As for AI, she’s an avid user of image generators and, guess what, they run in the browser on all her devices anyway. She doesn’t need to upgrade. What she does have is a cheaper phone bill because she finally paid off the 40-month loan she had for the last one. She’s not eager to take on that cost again.
So, until the screen breaks or the battery dies, she’ll keep her iPhone 11. Even I, a tech nerd who does want the latest gadgets, held onto my Galaxy Note 9 until it got water damage and the screen fried. I desperately wanted the newer versions of Android, but that desire simply wasn’t worth the cost—especially not in this economy.
So, what is the iPhone 16 if it’s not the generational leap reviewers seem to be clamoring for?
It’s a level playing field for Apple Intelligence, the iPhone’s new suite of AI features.
In previous iPhone launches, there were actually different generations of Bionic processors in the standard and Pro models of the same year’s release, creating measurable performance differences between them. But no more! Every device in the iPhone 16 lineup shares the A18 and A18 Pro chips, ensuring they are all capable of the same Intelligence functionality.
Too bad none of those features are ready for release to be tested!
But this shows that Apple has a long-term plan for Apple Intelligence to be a service and revenue stream well into the future. They need to ensure that all those iPhone X, 11, 12, and 13 users who are finally going to upgrade will become potential AI customers, whether they choose the entry-level iPhone 16 or the largest 16 Pro Max.
The iPhone 16 range isn’t meant to be the big, exciting, must-have gadget. Instead, it’s Apple leveling its own playing field and establishing the foundation for its new AI platform. Whether it works or not, only time will tell.