TECH NEWS – One analyst says the Cupertino-based company could see shipments drop by as much as 15%…

Last year, Apple overtook Samsung to become the largest smartphone maker in 2023, but the South Koreans could regain the top spot as the US tech giant faces several challenges in 2024. The biggest problem is a lack of compelling updates for the iPhone 16 (for Apple, the iPhone is the best-selling product, so how the phone performs is a big factor), so they shouldn’t expect much growth this year.

Ming-Chi Kuo on Medium wrote that Apple has lowered its 2024 iPhone shipments to 200 million units, down 15% from last year: “My latest supply chain survey indicates that Apple has lowered its 2024 iPhone shipments of key upstream semiconductor components to about 200 million units (down 15% YoY). Apple may experience the largest decline of any major global mobile phone brand in 2024. The iPhone faces structural challenges that will lead to a significant decline in shipments in 2024, including the emergence of a new paradigm in high-end mobile phone design and the continued decline in shipments in the Chinese market.”

So he doesn’t think the company will repeat the success of the iPhone 15, and the iPhone 16 won’t be a big enough improvement in functionality to sell, so the success of the current line could see a lot of interest in the 15, just at a reduced price. Apple hasn’t bought into the generative AI hype, although they do have the Apple GPT in the works, and this may be unveiled at WWDC 2024. And the microphone on the iPhone 16 may be modified to make it easier to activate Siri for advanced AI functions. But will that be enough to make it a success? The company’s fans (because you have to admit, there are fanboys) will surely buy the iPhone 16 at the first opportunity, but the initial momentum could be broken.

This statement also applies to the Apple Vision Pro…

Source: WCCFTech