Apple Intelligence Fizzles: Why Many Are Passing on the iPhone 16

The iPhone 16 was released to much fanfare and hype. Apple Intelligence was supposed to be the best thing that’s happened to Apple since the iPhone. Only, it really hasn’t been, and I saw that coming.

According to some reports, the initial appetite for the iPhone 16 was much lower than expected. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) estimated that in September 2024 that the iPhone 16 accounted for only about 20 percent of iPhone sales. I’m in the crowd that didn’t upgrade, and it’s not for the reason you might think.

The hype around iPhone 16 centered on two main points: A new physical camera button and the Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18. Even before Apple officially announced the phone, the company had pulled back on the availability of Apple Intelligence. We’re nearly at the end of the year, and the AI features available on the iPhone 16 are fairly minor. Writing assistance, notification summaries, and Clean Up in photos are features I can get through apps that cost much less than the $1,000 iPhone 16 Pro will cost.

“The new iPhone 16 models are evidence that the iPhones are starting to plateau in their evolution and Apple (is) starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel trying to find something unique to add to new models that actually has any purpose for a smartphone…” said Reddit user Pale-Nefariousness35 in a thread on the topic.

Not having access to those features is only part of the reason I, and many people like me, avoided upgrading. We’re all suffering from AI fatigue. We’re tired of all the hype around AI, only to be disappointed. Apple built AI up in the months before the launch, only to then back up and revise their release schedule.

Sure, Apple Intelligence features are trickling out slowly. Some were even announced by Apple on Wednesday, including the new Image Playground, Genmoji, and others. But some of the most useful ones still won’t be available until 2025. That leaves me with the question: why would I upgrade to a device that has marginal improvements over the version that I’m currently using (and which still has solid battery life)? I couldn’t find a reason. So, I avoided the expense to continue using the iPhone I already have, which works just fine. Evidently, many others felt the same.