iOS 18’s Apple Intelligence features are not incentivizing people to upgrade their iPhones, says Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today. Kuo says Apple’s recent Siri failures are going to have an impact on 2025 iPhone sales numbers.
Since last year's WWDC, I’ve consistently held a cautious view of how much Apple Intelligence would boost iPhone shipments. Take a recent case (see link below), just two months ago, I argued that the market was too bullish on 2025 iPhone shipments and reiterated that Apple… https://t.co/pntSCTS4f7
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) March 13, 2025
According to Kuo, Apple is has provided suppliers with conservative iPhone shipment forecasts as a result of Apple Intelligence’s “underwhelming performance.”
Kuo said:
Since last year’s WWDC, I’ve consistently held a cautious view of how much Apple Intelligence would boost iPhone shipments. Take a recent case (see link below), just two months ago, I argued that the market was too bullish on 2025 iPhone shipments and reiterated that Apple Intelligence would contribute less than expected to shipment volumes.
Lately, the market consensus has shifted to a more cautious stance on iPhone shipments and Apple Intelligence (Siri), which supports my earlier predictions. Moreover, it’s clear that when Apple shared conservative shipment forecasts with its key suppliers early this year, they had already factored in Apple Intelligence’s underwhelming performance.
This is not the first time Kuo has said Apple Intelligence is not driving sales of new iPhones. In January, Kuo said that the delay between when Apple showed off Apple Intelligence features in June and when they began launching in October “significantly declined” the appeal of Apple Intelligence.
The negative impact of the delays could further impact the sales of both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 models in the near future. Apple confirmed last week that Siri personal context and App Intents are being pushed back until the “coming year.” The critical reaction from the tech community and its customers has taken Apple a bit by surprise.
The delays appear to have shaken the confidence of both customers and analysts over whether Apple can indeed deliver the AI features it has promised, and whether they’ll be competitive with other AIs, like those offered by Google and OpenAI.
