Early China Reaction to iPhone 16 Is Weak

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Sep 10, 6:40AM EDT

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Early China Reaction to iPhone 16 Is Weak — © JohanSjolander / E+ via Getty Images

24/7 Wall St. Insights

The iPhone 16 must do well in China to keep Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) global revenue momentum growing.
Early reaction reveals users are not impressed by the lack of AI features.
Also: Discover the Next Nvidia.

The iPhone 16 has to do well in China to keep Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) global revenue momentum growing. It is that simple. China is the largest smartphone market in the world by far, with about 950 million smartphones in use, which is about three times the U.S. figure. Early reaction to the new iPhone 16 is weak according to one source. And the iPhone 16 was launched the same day as a local rival released its new flagship product.

According to Reuters, users of local chat product Weibo criticized the iPhone, particularly for its lack of new AI features. Those will come later this month with the release of iOS 18. Reuters posted some Weibo comments. “iPhone 16 Chinese version doesn’t support AI yet” attracted 11.33 million views and over 1,500 comments on Weibo. “What’s the point of buying it if you can’t use AI?” wrote one Weibo user. Another commented, “Without AI as the biggest selling point, it should be half price.”’

Huawei, one of the largest Chinese smartphone companies, released its tri-fold Mat XT yesterday. It can act as a smartphone, a device with a larger screen, or a tablet. In theory, buyers of the new smartphone will not need a tablet as well.

It is worth remembering that Apple stock took a beating earlier this year. One report showed iPhone sales dropped 24% in the first six weeks of 2024, compared to the year before. Strong Huawei sales reportedly were the primary cause.

Apple’s financial results have shown a struggle in China so far this year. For the first nine months of Apple’s fiscal year, Greater China revenue dropped from $57.5 billion in the same period the year before to $52.9 billion.

Prediction: Apple Turns Rotten in October

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.