Sales of the iPhone 16 are strong (it is a new iPhone, after all), but still somehow behind expectations, according to an investor message from Morgan Stanley (as seen by AppleInsider)

Apple claims to have shipped 37 million iPhone 16 series units in the first weekend Most of these were iPhone 16 Pro Max, but the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus showed a much higher growth than before However, despite these impressive statistics, these numbers represent lower demand than previous iPhones

Morgan Stanley illustrates this with the wait time if you decide to buy an iPhone 16 today According to its findings, the longest wait for the iPhone 16 is 255 days This is certainly long, but compared to the 435 days users waited for the equivalent iPhone 15 Pro Max last year, it is a big difference

Comparing this to other iPhone launches, the iPhone 16 model appears to have the shortest lead time since the launch of the iPhone 12 in 2020 As a result, Morgan Stanley predicts that Apple may reduce orders for the iPhone 16, but admits that this prediction is only tentative as the situation is still developing

The relatively low demand for the iPhone 16 may indicate that Apple is better able to judge demand this year than in previous ones and can therefore send units out more quickly Or perhaps people are not buying iPhones with the enthusiasm they once did

The slow start in iPhone 16 series sales makes sense given that some of the iPhone 16's biggest features have not been introduced at launch including the iPhone 16-exclusive Visual Intelligence feature, the Apple Intelligence features all remain in beta, and the two-stage shutter for Camera Control and the full Siri 20 upgrade are not yet ready Perhaps once these are included in the iPhone 16, interest in upgrading will begin to grow

It has been less than a month since the iPhone 16 was officially announced and only a week since it was launched However, something different from previous years is happening at this launch time that will undoubtedly point to fall 2024 as a pivotal year in the iPhone's fate in the future

To learn more about the latest iPhones and their evaluation, read our iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max reviews