Shipment Doubled, Yet iPhone 16 Pro Max Pre-Orders Down by 16%

Despite Apple’s move to double shipments of the iPhone 16 Pro Max before pre-orders, the model has seen a 16% decline in first weekend pre-order sales compared to last year.

Apple shipped 6 million units ahead of the pre-order period, marking a 106% increase from the previous year. This approach was mainly to meet anticipated demand and reduce delivery times, which now average 3-4 weeks for the Pro Max model.

However, the increased supply hasn’t translated into higher sales. The decline might be due to several factors, including the delayed rollout of Apple Intelligence, which is not available at launch. And overall there isn’t a lot to new to be seen other than the Camera Control, which was added by Apple because when people think of camera, they think of iPhones.

Not just this, the improvements in the 16 lineup compared to its predecessor may are not compelling enough for consumers to upgrade.

But that being said, the iPhone 16 Pro Max still leads in pre-order numbers with 17.1 million units sold.

This trend highlights a shifting consumer preference towards either the base models, which have seen increased interest or perhaps, lesser than 10% upgrade their phone every year.

More here.