Apple has been the smartphone company that most other players try to imitate and beat at the same time. Apple itself doesn’t believe in revamping it’s iPhone lineup every year and it seems like iPhone 16 series will see the same fate in 2024. Aside from this, an analyst from the industry says that 2024 may not be Apple’s year in terms of other aspects also.
Analyst Ming-chi Kuo’s predictions with regards to Apple and other brands have been credible for the most part and according to his latest findings, he says that Apple will not significantly revamped iPhone models which includes design changes and the more comprehensive/differentiated GenAI ecosystem/applications until 2025 at the earliest. Moreover, this decision will also likely harm Apple’s iPhone shipment momentum and ecosystem growth until 2025’s iPhones come out.
Separately, Kuo shared insights about Apple’s journey in 2024 and the analyst says that the Californian giant has lowered its 2024 iPhone shipments of key upstream semiconductor components to about 200 million units (down 15% YoY). Kuo adds that Apple may have the most significant decline among the major global mobile phone brands in 2024.
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In addition, iPhone 15 series and new iPhone 16 series shipments will decline by 10–15% YoY in first half of 2024 and second half of 2024, respectively (compared to iPhone 14 series shipments in 1H23 and iPhone 15 series shipments in 2H23, respectively). The analyst claims that the iPhone 16 lineup will face challenges in the high-end segment due to the consumers’ shift towards buying AI phones and foldables.
In comparison, Kuo says that Samsung has revised the shipments of the Galaxy S24 series in 2024 going up by 5–10%, while Apple has revised down the shipment forecast of iPhone 15 in 1H24. “Apple’s weekly shipments in China have declined by 30–40% YoY in recent weeks, and this downward trend is expected to continue”, further said Kuo.