The iPhone 16 Pro is now less popular than the base iPhone 16, according to new report – and I’m not surprised

• A new report claims the iPhone 16 is gaining in popularity
• The iPhone 16 Pro, meanwhile, seems to be losing sales
• This all makes sense due to the iPhone 16’s great new features

The iPhone 16 is one of the best iPhones you can buy, and it looks like the data might agree, with this model apparently selling in phenomenal numbers. That’s according to a report published by CIRP (via 9to5Mac), at least, and it paints an interesting picture of Apple’s phone lineup, with the iPhone 16 Pro in particular seeming to miss out.

The iPhone 16 appears to have been the main winner among Apple’s phone offerings, making up roughly 20% of sales as of March 2025. Contrast that to March last year, when the iPhone 15 counted for about 14% of Apple’s iPhone sales.

Conversely, CIRP’s report claims that “The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max together accounted for 38% of iPhone sales in the quarter, down from the 45% share for the similarly positioned iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max one year ago.” Much of that change seems to be down to the iPhone 16 Pro, which accounted for 17% of sales this year – down from 22% in Q1 2024.

That suggests that consumers are opting for the more affordable iPhone 16, rather than stepping up to the more expensive iPhone 16 Pro. At the end of the day, that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

Increasingly attractive

I love my iPhone 16 Pro, and I’ve found it to be a massive step up from the iPhone 12 Pro I had before. Its combination of 120Hz display and excellent photographic capabilities mean it offers me something that the regular iPhone 16 can’t match.

But at the same time, I can see why people would want to skip the Pro model and opt for a more affordable alternative. The iPhone 16 came with some significant upgrades over its iPhone 15 predecessor, including improved Camera Control, a better A18 chip, an Action button, and more. None of these features were available to this iPhone tier before.

It’s likely that Apple gave the iPhone 16 a sizeable upgrade to help differentiate it from the iPhone 16e, which became the company’s 'budget' option when it launched in February 2025. Otherwise, there may not have been much to help separate the two models.

In the end, we have to take these figures with a pinch of salt, as they are not official sales numbers. But they certainly make sense, and I’m not surprised to see Apple fans snapping up the increasingly-attractive iPhone 16.

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