Apple faced a significant loss of nearly $94bn (£71bn) in its market valuation after analysts predicted weaker-than-expected demand for its latest iPhone model.
Shares in the world’s most valuable company dropped by 2.8% on Monday following a report by Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities.
Kuo estimated that pre-orders for the iPhone 16 series during its first weekend were around 37 million units, marking a 12.7% decrease compared to last year’s iPhone 15 sales during the same period.
Kuo attributed the decline to the fact that the iPhone 16 will launch this month without Apple’s new artificial intelligence feature, which is not expected to be available until later.
In a client note, Kuo stated: “One of the key reasons for the lower-than-expected demand for the iPhone 16 Pro series is that its main selling point, Apple Intelligence, won’t be included at launch alongside the iPhone 16.”
The Apple Intelligence AI feature will allow users to perform tasks such as finding restaurant reviews and menus by pointing their camera at a venue or identifying animals and plants.
Apple announced that its Apple Intelligence AI would be rolled out in the US in the coming weeks as a “beta” version, with a “localized” version for the UK scheduled for release in December.
Other European countries and global markets will not receive the feature until 2025.
JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee also noted that while consumers still favor the Pro models, orders for these high-end versions are “beginning slightly slower than last year.”
