Apple's just-announced iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro will likely go down in the books as the "AI" iPhone, the one that's supposed to power all kinds of new generative artificially intelligent features, and in a very Apple-y way. But some analysts are predicting that these new phones will catalyze an even more important phenomenon for Apple's future: The start of an iPhone "supercycle." A "supercycle" is what it sounds like: an extended period of economic growth in a boom and bust cycle. In this instance the phrase is being applied to a specific commodity. And those who track the tech market closely believe--or want to believe--that that time has come for iPhone sales to heat up.

Apple's big push into AI – which the company insists stands for "Apple Intelligence" – could spark an upgrade "supercycle", with the intense processing requirements for the souped-up Siri limiting it to only the most powerful iPhones currently on the market. The company risks angering users who will update to iOS 18 this autumn to discover that even a brand-new iPhone 15 is unable to run features such as automatic transcription, image generation and a smarter, more conversational voice assistant. Apple's new AI models will run on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, the only two devices the company has yet shipped with its A17 processor. Macs up to three years old will also be able to take advantage of the upgrade, provided they have a M1, 2 or 3 chip, and so too will iPad Pros with the same internal hardware. Critics have argued that the decision to not release a slower or less competent version of the AI system for older phones is motivated by profit.

Wall Street analysts say the iPhone X will push a large number of consumers to upgrade their devices, but KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the "super cycle" will happen until 2018, according to an investor's note obtained by MacRumors. Apple will release the iPhone X in November, but Kuo says "the real super cycle" won't occur until next year. A supercycle is described as a high demand in upgrading to a new phone. Wall Street analysts believe many people who bought the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus three years ago will want to get a brand new device this year. Apple has been reportedly struggling with the iPhone X's main feature, the Face ID.