According to Citigroup Research, apple (AAPL.US) plans to release iOS 18.2 in December, and its new apple smart features may determine the speed of the iPhone replacement cycle. While the exact launch date is unknown, MacRumors believes it may be Monday, December 9. Citi maintains a buy rating for apple with a target price of $255. The banks expect the update cycle for iPhone 17 to boost sales at the end of 2025 and into 2026. The company forecasts sales of 0.227 billion units in 2024, 0.246 billion units in 2025, and 0.253 billion units in 2026.

Atif Malik, leading the Citigroup analyst team, stated in an investor report: "Overall, the staggered rollout of apple smart features makes the update cycles for iPhone 16/17 different from previous cycles. iOS 18.1 was released in late October in American English, with limited generative ai capabilities. Apple's ai features will not launch in the EU until April next year, and apple has not announced a launch date in china as the company is going through the regulatory process."

Apple also plans to announce a more conversational and broader language version of Siri sometime in 2025, but it may not be fully available until 2026. Earlier this year, apple introduced Apple Intelligence at the developer conference in June and announced the integration of ChatGPT into Siri. ChatGPT will join Siri in iOS 18.2.

Citigroup's holiday survey for consumer electronics shows that iPhone sales this season have seen a slight year-on-year increase, with 48% of consumers preferring iPhone, compared to 46% during the last holiday season. However, among the 2,900 consumers surveyed, only 19% are interested in the high-end model of iPhone 16, whereas 21% preferred the high-end model of iPhone 15 in 2023.

Malik pointed out: "Interestingly, compared to last year's iPhone 14, we see increased interest in this year's iPhone 15 series, which we believe may be due to the availability of apple smart phones in the high-end iPhone 15 models."

About 70% of surveyed iPhone users stated that apple's ai feature, Apple Intelligence, is important when considering purchasing a new iPhone.