iPhone 16 Models Launch Slowly

After the pandemic upset iPhone launch schedules, data on the recently introduced iPhone 16 models are truly comparable to the iPhone 15 models in 2023. Finally, all new iPhone models were sold on the same schedule for two successive years. 

Apple introduced its new iPhone 16 models in early September for sales starting September 20, 2024. They include the base iPhone 16 and larger iPhone 16 Plus, and premium iPhone 16 Pro and its larger partner, iPhone 16 Pro Max. Since we compare model shares to those in the year-ago September 2023 quarter and Apple continues to sell legacy models for three years, only retiring the Pro and Pro Max models (which even then still overlap the new Pros within the quarter), we have a chart with sixteen separate models across the two quarters, and twelve in each quarter.

The early evidence suggests that during their first couple of weeks of availability, the iPhone 16 models started more slowly than the comparable iPhone 15 models a year ago.

In the September 2024 quarter, the new iPhone 16 models combined for a 20% share of total US iPhone sales, below the 29% share for the then-new iPhone 15 models in September 2023 (Chart 1).