“Apple began taking preorders for the iPhone Xr on Friday at 3 a.m. ET. Between then and noon ET, we measured online lead times for delivery 9 times,” Gene Munster writes for Loup Ventures. “We were surprised to see that lead times remained entirely unchanged except for several SKUs on T-Mobile.”
“Drawing insights from lead times is not a science, given we don’t know how many phones Apple is able to produce. That said, over the years (dating back to the iPod), longer lead times have historically been an indicator of healthy demand and shorter lead times softer demand,” Munster writes. “Despite this negative initial data point, we remain optimistic that the Xr will be the top-selling iPhone over the next 12 months, given it represents the greatest value. We continue to expect the Xr to account for 38% of new units in FY19.”
“Our next data point related to Xr demand will come on Friday, October 26th when we count and survey launch lines,” Munster writes. “If lines are shorter than what we observed for the Xs and Xs Max launches in September, we will reevaluate our mix assumptions.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Maybe Apple was able to amass enough stock to satisfy demand, for a change. Or maybe people spending several hundred dollars for a smartphone want the very best they can get, so they’ve already gotten or are getting an iPhone Xs Max?
Also of note:
Yes, our readers skew toward well-heeled and tech savvy early adopters, but still.
Interns: TTK. TGIF and prost, everyone!
Xr is a different kind of consumer. Fewer rush out on launch day to preorder it. They’ll see it in the wild and then buy.
I agree.
I think many of the consumers the Xr is targeting don’t even realize it’s launch day.
Totally agree with both of you
I’ll be trading in my iPhone 8 for a Xr under Apple’s upgrade program, but want to wait until I can see the colors in person before making a purchase decision.
I want the red or the blue or should I buy two?
I would have gotten one but shoot with a low res screen compared to my X from last year why would I want to downgrade? I wish they offered colors in the XS MAX. However the 6.1in screen would have been great but not at a low res.
I will probably get the XS Max but I’ve had to wait until my plan was eligible which it is now. Still I’m not in a huge hurry as I’ll be paying more for the monthly privilege. I also need to see it in the Apple Store to make sure it’s not too humongous for my needs. My iPhone X has been a great phone this past year.
I will certainly wait until Oct. 30th to see if there’s something else I would prefer. Like a Mac Mini for some smaller purposes but one that can run Mojave & hopefully 4K.
A couple weeks ago I got my iPhone Xs Max, Gold, 256 GB model. Coming from the Jet Black iPhone 7 Plus, it’s a real nice upgrade. Sure, the iPhone Xr has a market, but it just isn’t for me. The large OLED screen makes a difference compared to ye olde LCD tech used in generations prior (sans iPhone X.)
One day and demand is said to be soft. Wow! Can’t they even wait for an entire weekend? Still, I had seen another article saying some iPhone XR inventory had been sold out. I don’t know who to believe. I’ll wait until the end of the quarter to get accurate sales data.
Sorry, it was iPhone XS inventory that had been sold out. I welcome the boost in ASPs with those XS/XS Max models.
Ordered an Xr yesterday, upgrading from the 6S. Had no problem making an appt to pick it up Friday at 4:30. Apple says its the best LCD screen they have ever made, good enough for me and my eyes. The processor to me was the important issue.