Apple fans line up worldwide as the iPhone 16 officially arrives in stores

• The iPhone 16, Apple Watch Series 10, and new AirPods models are now available at Apple stores.
• Apple Intelligence is expected to start rolling out in October.
• In Singapore, the launch began with a countdown, applause, and long queues.

The new AI iPhone is officially available in Apple stores, hitting shelves in almost 60 countries around the world on Friday.

The iPhone 16 is the first phone to launch in Apple's new era of artificial intelligence. A new Apple Watch Series 10, an improved Apple Watch Ultra 2, and new AirPods models also made their debut.

Although the iPhone 16 won't come straight out of the box with Apple Intelligence, it's one of only two iPhone generations that's compatible with the software. The first AI features will reportedly roll out via iOS 18 in October.

Still, there's been much excitement about the improvements to the basic iPhone 16, which comes in some saturated new colors and is getting two new buttons — the Camera Control and an Action button.

Scenes at the stores

In Singapore's flagship Apple store in Orchard, the city's central shopping district, the scene had the hallmarks of Apple's product launches: countdowns to store opening, long queues outside, and employees cheering the first batch of customers as they entered.

Queues began at 4 a.m. and were split into pre-order pickups and walk-in orders.

The store opened at 8 a.m. When Business Insider visited at 9 a.m., there were about 300 people in line for walk-in orders.

By 9 a.m., the store was surrounded by resellers who had purchased two iPhones — the maximum you could pre-order — and were looking to buy more from those who bought spares.

Many of these resellers traveled to Singapore from Vietnam and Sri Lanka, where Apple does not have official stores, or from India, where Apple has two stores. Some people carried between eight to 12 merchandise bags and came with carry-on suitcases to transport the iPhones back home.

BI spoke to a Singaporean couple in their mid-20s, who said this was their first time attending an Apple launch day. They had pre-ordered the iPhone 16 for themselves and their friends. They kept two phones but sold the remaining to buyers who approached them on the street.

The Singaporean shopper said he flipped each extra phone to a Vietnamese group for a profit of 150 Singapore dollars, or $116, apiece. He took a leave from work to pick up his order at 8 a.m.

"There's not so much profit from this, it was more for fun," he said.

Another Apple enthusiast who spoke to BI said he has been attending launch days since 2011, even before the Orchard flagship store opened in 2017. He said he updates his iPhone every year.

He said the crowd on Friday was slightly more muted than it has been in the past. He said he hopes Apple designs a flip phone similar to those being produced by Samsung and Huawei, so he can have an "iPad in his pocket."

In London, moderate queues began forming outside Apple's two central stores before they opened at 8 a.m. The queues separated customers waiting for the new Apple Watch and those picking up the new iPhone.

At Apple's Regent Street store, one customer in line at 10 a.m. told BI the queues had taken so long at 8 a.m. that he was forced to abandon his effort to pick up his new iPhone 16 and come back later.

By 11 a.m., the lines had already dwindled at the outlet and another in nearby Covent Garden, with customers breezing into the store in about 10 minutes. The Regent Street location was Apple's first store in Europe when it opened in November 2004.

London customers who spoke to BI ranged from die-hard Apple fans eager to get their hands on the latest iPhone, to those just trying to update an essential gadget.

One customer in line for the iPhone 16, who worked in healthcare AI, said he wasn't excited by the new model or the prospect of Apple Intelligence features.

"I just view it as a phone and email machine," he said, adding that he was trying to upgrade his four-year-old model. "All the models are pretty much the same to me."

Queues for the new devices were also evident in cities including Mumbai and Hangzhou, China.

Much is riding on this launch for Apple. iPhone sales slipped year-on-year in the third quarter, and analysts have said an AI-powered smartphone could be the game changer Apple needs to see revenue bounce back.

However, pre-orders over the past weekend were estimated to be about 13% lower than for the iPhone 15 — primarily due to the slower rollout of AI features as well as competition in China.

Apple has successfully generated hype around its upcoming software, but today could indicate whether it can back it up with initial hardware sales.