As we enter July, the iPhone 16 series has already entered mass production, with less than 3 months until its official release! 

Recently, news about Apple increasing orders for the iPhone 16 series has been widely circulated, with rumors of even two rounds of increases, with shipments exceeding 95 million units.

In response, Ming-Chi Kuo, a prominent Apple analyst, stated in his latest report that based on information from key suppliers TSMC and Largan Precision, Apple has not increased orders, and the overall order volume is similar to last year's level.

Kuo believes that while some suppliers have received additional orders, overall, there has been no significant change in iPhone 16 series orders this year, remaining around 87 million units, even slightly lower than the 91 million units prepared for the iPhone 15 series during the same period.

Additionally, Apple Intelligence is widely believed to be the reason for the rumored order increase, but this feature is not yet available and will only be offered as a Beta version to US users in the second half of the year, supporting English only, providing little practical help in boosting sales.

Looking at the product itself, the upgrades for the iPhone 16 series are also quite limited, lacking revolutionary improvements, and previous estimates were overly optimistic.

It is worth mentioning that the Weibo topic related to iPhone 16 has once again surged onto the trending list, sparking heated discussions among netizens.

Regarding whether iPhone 16 is worth waiting for, many netizens have shared their opinions on Weibo. Some say that iPhone 16 is essentially not much different from iPhone 15, lacking revolutionary innovations.

Others say that Apple is merely squeezing out small updates every year, becoming increasingly perfunctory.

According to leaked information, the iPhone 16 series has reverted to a vertical dual-camera design, which was widely praised in the iPhone X to iPhone 12 models.

Apple has readopted this classic design to enable the iPhone 16 series to record spatial videos, making it more convenient to use with the Vision Pro headset. The current iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, with their diagonal camera layout, cannot achieve this function.

The front remains the Dynamic Island display, with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus continuing to feature a standard 60Hz refresh rate, while only the Pro series supports ProMotion.

Notably, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped with larger displays, measuring 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches, respectively.

In terms of photography, the 6.3-inch iPhone 16 Pro will also feature a periscope telephoto lens, supporting 5x optical zoom, offering a similar zoom experience to the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Additionally, the arrival of AI has increased the cost of the iPhone. To better implement AI on the device side, memory configurations must also be upgraded. In the past, Apple provided relatively little DRAM, mostly not exceeding 6GB, with older models like the iPhone 13 only having 4GB. To accommodate more powerful AI features, all new models are expected to be equipped with 8GB of memory.

The price of the iPhone may also increase accordingly. According to leaked information, the iPhone 16 is expected to be priced starting at 6499 yuan, while the iPhone 16 Plus may cost around 7499 yuan, and the top-of-the-line iPhone 16 series could exceed 20,000 yuan.

If this is indeed the case, Apple's ability to compete on cost-effectiveness will be a crucial issue, as AI flagship phones from competitors generally start below 6000 yuan. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S24 originally priced at 5999 yuan has now dropped to around 5100 yuan on e-commerce platforms, and even the top-of-the-line Ultra version is priced at around 8500 yuan, around 1500 yuan cheaper than its counterpart, the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Compared to domestic brands, Apple's AI phones will further lose ground in terms of cost-effectiveness. For instance, OPPO's top-of-the-line Find X7 Ultra flagship is priced at just 5499 yuan, while Huawei's latest high-end Pura 70 Pro+ starts at 7999 yuan.

Moreover, the latest data shows that sales of the iPhone 15 series in the second quarter of this year fell short of expectations, accounting for a smaller proportion of total iPhone sales than the iPhone 14 during the same period last year. According to industry data, the four iPhone 15 models accounted for 67% of iPhone sales in the second quarter, lower than the 79% share of the iPhone 14 series in the second quarter of last year, a difference of over 10 percentage points.

During Apple's earnings call for its fiscal first quarter of 2024 in February, CEO Tim Cook mentioned in response to analysts' questions about the performance of the iPhone 15 series that sales had been consistently higher than those of the previous generation, the iPhone 14 series. It is evident that Cook was lying.

In fact, when Apple's iPhone 15 series was released, Huawei's Mate60 series had already been pre-sold and performed exceptionally well in the Chinese market. In 2024, Huawei launched another flagship, the Pura 70 series, which also received recognition and purchases from many Chinese users, both of which weakened Apple's iPhone 15 series shipments.

Although Apple offered significant discounts during China's 618 promotion, boosting its market share, it still could not match the larger market share it held before Huawei's comeback. This is the fundamental reason why shipments of Apple's iPhone 15 series fell short of previous models. It is important to note that the Chinese market has always been a crucial market for Apple, with unparalleled purchasing power, especially for high-end products, on a global scale.

Lastly, regarding battery life, information suggests that the iPhone 16 series will adopt a stainless steel battery case for the first time. The iPhone 16 Pro series will feature enhanced battery integration, using contact connections for easier replacement, and increasing battery cell density by 5-10%.

Specifically, the iPhone 16 Pro will have a capacity of 3597mAh, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max will reach 4769mAh, both of which are improvements over the previous generation, potentially making them the iPhone models with the longest battery life ever.

Benefiting from advancements in battery technology, the charging speed of the new iPhones is expected to reach an impressive 40W...

So, for you, would you prefer to snap up an iPhone 15 at a bargain price or wait it out as a member of the "wait-and-see" crowd for the iPhone 16?

If you have anything else to say about the latest leaks regarding Apple's iPhone 16, please feel free to leave a comment in the section below and join the discussion with Mingmei Unlimited!