Apple Hopes To Spur Handset Upgrades With New AI-Powered iPhone 16, iOS 18 Features
Guess what’s back? Apple, with another “brand new” iPhone that feels oddly familiar. After teasing us with a glimpse of its new iOS operating system this summer, Apple is finally gearing up to roll out the hardware to go with it.
A Siri-ous upgrade: On Monday, Apple announced a new hardware lineup at its annual September event — including fresh wearables, AirPods, and the much-anticipated iPhone 16. The tech titan says the four new handsets feature its largest-ever display, biggest battery, and new AI features powered by its ChatGPT-powered Apple Intelligence model.
- Apple Intelligence brings huge upgrades to Siri on the iPhone 16, enabling it to understand more complex language and perform more complicated tasks.
- However, some key iPhone 16 features — like image generation and editing capabilities — as well as the full suite of ChatGPT tools, have been delayed.
AI on the Prize
For Apple, the iPhone 16 could reignite demand after a quiet few years in the handset market. Last year, smartphone sales made up half of Apple’s $383B in revenue. And this year, analysts are hopeful that the new features could drive the long-awaited upgrade cycle.
- According to The New York Times, analysts expect Apple to sell a record 240M iPhones next year — a 12% increase year-over-year (YoY).
- But optimism is tempered by repeated delays, limited features at launch, and the lack of availability in the EU.
Join the crowd: These challenges could hamper the world’s most valuable brand’s expectations for a “super cycle” of upgrades and iPhone 16 orders. Competitors like Google, Samsung, and Huawei have already launched AI-powered phones, crowding the market. And the big question still remains: Do consumers even care about AI as a selling point? In a recent poll, only ~20% of iPhone users said they plan to upgrade for new features.
