Apple seems to be expecting iPhone 16 sales to significantly outpace last year's model. A new supply chain report says the company has increased its A-series chip order from TSMC by 10 million.
However, suggestions from some quarters that Apple has changed its chip strategy this year, giving all four iPhone models the same chip, are misleading…
Apple is expecting very strong sales of the iPhone 16.
Chinese site CTEE Apple has reportedly ordered TSMC to produce between 90M and 100M chips for this year's iPhone 16 lineup.
Supply chain reveals that Apple has increased orders for A18 chips. […] Estimated sales will range from 90 million to 100 million.
This contrasts with last year's range of 80M to 90M, and suggests that the Cupertino company is expecting significantly higher sales for the iPhone 16 lineup than last year's iPhone 15 range.
Change in chip naming convention
For the iPhone 15, Apple gave the two Pro models a new chip called the A17 Pro, while the base and Plus models got last year's A16 chip.
This year, all models are powered by a single chip labeled A18, leading some to suggest that Apple is changing its chip differentiation strategy, giving all four models the same chip.
However, what we are actually expecting is just a change in the naming convention.
We're expecting the base and Plus models to get a slightly updated version of the A17 Pro chip, but labeled A18. The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will get a new chip, labeled the A18 Pro, which will bring significant improvements in AI and graphics capabilities.
Apple Intelligence will definitely boost sales.
It would make sense for Apple to expect a significant increase in sales of this year's iPhones. The headline new feature of iOS 18 is, of course, Apple Intelligence.
The only two current iPhone models that will support it are the iPhone 15 Pro and the Pro Max. So anyone with a less powerful model — even last year's basic iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Plus — will need to upgrade to take advantage of the new AI capabilities.
All four iPhone 16 models will support AI. Given that, a 10M increase in sales on the iPhone 15 lineup seems eminently achievable.
Check out this piece for a full list of all Apple devices that will support Apple Intelligence.
iPhone 15 Pro Max photo by Rohan on Unsplash
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