iPhone 16: 62% of users want to upgrade, but AI isn’t the main reason

Apple will unveil the iPhone 16 in a few weeks. I plan on upgrading from the iPhone 14 Pro, with Apple Intelligence being one of the most important factors. It’s hardly the only one, as I also want the iPhone 16’s Capture button in my life.

Of course, I’m not the only existing iPhone owner who plans to buy an iPhone 16 model. A new survey shows that 62% of respondents want one of the new iPhone 16 models, but Apple Intelligence is not the main factor impacting their buying decision. It’s not in the top two either, which is probably not what Apple wants to hear.

After all, Apple Intelligence will be the most significant marketing pitch for the iPhone 16 series. Apple’s suite of generative AI features will only work on the iPhone 15 Pro and up, so if you’re still using an iPhone 14, you have to upgrade to get AI.

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SellCell surveyed over 2,000 iPhone owners, looking to gauge their interest in the upcoming iPhone generation.

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The company finds that 61.9% of respondents want to buy an iPhone 16 in September. Moreover, 82.1% have no issues waiting for the rollout of Apple Intelligence. Apple will start releasing the first AI features in the weeks or months following the iPhone 16 release date. The Apple Intelligence rollout will start with iOS 18.1 and continue via subsequent upgrades.

The willingness to wait for AI already indicates that Apple Intelligence isn’t the main factor impacting the purchase decision. But SellCell went further than that. It offered respondents the main iPhone 16 rumors and found that two key factors are significantly more important than AI.

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SellCell study: The most important factors impacting iPhone 16 upgrade decision. Image source: SellCell

Unsurprisingly, the iPhone 16 price is the most important factor that will impact the buying decision, with 30.9%. The iPhone 16’s rumored thermal design, which will supposedly prevent overheating issues, comes in second with 26.9%. Apple Intelligence takes third place with 21.9%, just 0.4% more than the faster A-series chip.

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Interestingly, the new Capture button is the seventh reason in the list, with 17.7%. The larger size of the iPhone 16 Pros and the Action button are more important than the new button.

The last three factors in this top 10 are Wi-Fi 7, the vertical camera on the non-Pro iPhone 16 variants, and the new iPhone 16 colors .

In a separate question, 54.9% of respondents said they want bigger displays like the ones rumored to equip the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. The rest thought the iPhones were getting too big (33%) or said they would wait for a compact iPhone to launch (12.1%).

On the latter point, no compact iPhone is coming soon. The iPhone SE 4, which I think will bring tremendous value, will feature a 6.1-inch screen similar to the iPhone 14 models.

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