Malcolm Owen
Most potential upgraders will find pricing to be a big factor in moving to the iPhone 16, a survey claims, with the introduction of Apple Intelligence almost as important.
With the iPhone 16 range set to launch within weeks, potential buyers of the new handset have to consider which model they should move to. Now, a survey indicates many consumers will certainly be making the shift to the new models.
The survey by SellCell asked over 2,000 people about the iPhone 16 and their purchase intent. Approximately 61.9% said they will be upgrading to the new model.
In terms of the upgrade factors that could encourage consumers to upgrade, 30.9% said Apple's pricing of the iPhone 16 is their most important concern. In second place is thermal management, with 26.8% wanting Apple to keep their iPhones cool and minimally throttling.
Apple Intelligence is in third place, with 21.6% of consumers keen to see an increase in unique AI features. In fourth is a faster A-series chip with 21.5%, while in fifth is larger screen sizes.
Sixth and seventh places were shared by external buttons. 19% wanted to see the Action button across all iPhone 16 models, while 17.7% were keen to see the rumored Capture button.
Size matters
In another survey, the respondents were asked about the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, which could have a taller and wider display.
Approximately 54.9% said they wanted a bigger iPhone. A total of 33% of respondents disagreed, saying that the iPhones are getting too big to handle by consumers.
A small group of 12.1% of the survey wanted to go back to the times of Mini models of iPhones, hoping that a new compact variant will be introduced.
When split down further to male and female responses, men were happier to use a bigger iPhone than women, at 62.1% to 47.8%. However 41.5% of women said that iPhones are getting too big versus 24.4 of male responses.
Slow your roll(out)
On the introduction of Apple Intelligence and the realization that most features won't be available at launch, consumers are still fine with waiting for them to arrive.
When asked if they're happy to wait an extra month to get AI features on an iPhone 16, 82.1% agreed with the wait. Only 17.9% said that the features should be launched alongside the iPhone 16 in September.
Christine McKee
Andrew Orr
Wesley Hilliard
Marko Zivkovic
15 Comments
Could a survey be any more preposterous than one which concludes that the #2 priority for iPhone upgraders is "thermal management?!" New features? AI? Faster speeds? New colors? Better battery life? Nah, what the people REALLY want is better thermal management. Absolutely ridiculous on the face of it, yet this stupidity gets published.
I find it interesting that barely 1/5th of the respondents view AI as the most important feature. For all the press and the hype just shy of 4/5 aren’t that interested.
This is why surveys are so tricky. It sounds like they had a list of things and asked people what was most important, so nothing received a majority. If they had instead asked on each one if it was most important, somewhat important, slightly important, or not important, they would have been able to determine relative importance more clearly. I suspect thermal management was an issue on a lot of people’s list, but the other choices, price, AI, etc., ended up split up to make it seem more significant that it really is for most people.
The same company, SellCell, running the same survey roughly this same time last year said:
"Overall, 66% of iPhone users said that they will be looking to upgrade to an iPhone 15",
which is a higher percentage of owners than potential up-graders this year.
It does not appear users followed through. IMO SellCell runs an extremely unreliable survey. But hey, they got their name in the news today. :)
Pricing and AI are no brainers, but there are other considerations not listed. My phone is an extension of my office as a builder and I’ve only updated when there has been a worthwhile shift forwards in practical features, including; OS speed, battery life, screen brightness, recycled materials, RAM & storage, camera quality, optical zoom. If you hold on and buy in a good year they generally last longer (3gs, 4s, 7, 11, 14pro were all good model years IMO). Rather spend money on my family, home, truck and hobbies than new IT gear every year!