Apple iPhone 16 sales lower than expected

TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and Apple iPhone sales are struggling.

Transcript

00:00I'm Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here's what we're watching on the street today.

00:05Geopolitics moved to center stage on Tuesday putting pressure on U.S. stocks.

00:11Investors are focusing on reports Iran is preparing to launch an attack against Israel. That development is

00:18overshadowing upbeat economic news. Job openings picked up in August while manufacturing activity didn't get worse in September as

00:26inflationary pressures eased.

00:28Turning now to other business headlines, it appears that Apple may not have a big winner with the new iPhone 16.

00:35The device began selling in late September and early sales aren't living up to analysts' expectations.

00:42Since Apple does not give out preliminary sales figures, analysts use a number of measures to estimate how sales are going.

00:50According to TF International Securities, Apple sold 37 million iPhone 16s in the first weekend of pre-sales,

00:58which was a 12% drop from the iPhone 15 debut in 2023.

01:03The problem is likely twofold. The iPhone 16 is Apple's first AI-ready smartphone,

01:09but many of the AI features won't be ready until later this year or early next year,

01:14so many consumers may not feel rushed to upgrade. On the other hand,

01:19Apple has packed so many bells and whistles into the basic model that analysts think iPhone users who are ready to upgrade are

01:26opting for the cheaper model, which is bringing down Apple's average selling price.

01:31There is hope, however, that some customers might be holding off an upgrade for the Christmas holiday.

01:37The iPhone is Apple's cash cow and the company needs a sales rebound to offset years of sluggish sales.

01:44Roughly half of Apple's annual revenue comes from this device alone.

01:50That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange. I'm Conway Gittins with The Street.

01:56Thanks for watching.