Apple might have sold 37 million iPhone 16 units during the preorder weekend, with Pro units having sold out. It might not be good enough.
It took Apple fewer than 35 minutes on Friday to sell out the iPhone 16 Pro Max stock it had available for online sales. Within an hour, the iPhone 16 Pro was also sold out. Delivery estimates slipped into October for the two models, although some were still available for in-store pick-up. The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus fared better on Friday, though some versions of the Plus sold out over the weekend.
That sounds like any other iPhone preorder experience. It also seems like good news for Apple, whose job this year is more difficult than in years past. Apple is marketing the iPhone 16 series as AI phones, but Apple Intelligence features won’t be available until October. In other words, it’s an AI phone with no AI to speak of, and no other noteworthy marquee features to appeal to prospective buyers.
Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst familiar with Apple’s complex supply chain, has seemingly figured out how many iPhones Apple might have sold during the preorder weekend. We might be looking at 37 million units across the entire iPhone 16 series. That sounds like a huge figure, considering Apple reportedly plans to make up to 88 million iPhone 16 units in total this year. That estimate also comes from Kuo.
But the 37 million figure is lower than the iPhone 15 series, Kuo says.
Before we look at Kuo’s figures, I’ll remind you that these numbers are not official.
