Although it's been many years since Apple stopped providing weekend sales figures for new iPhones in the first weekend, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty said today that iPhone 13 Pro preorders are "offering a promising start" and there is strong early demand.
Huberty's opinion was based on Apple's delivery estimates. She has been following this trend for many years. Huberty calculated that the average lead time for the iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone 13 Pro Max was around 27 days. This happened shortly after pre-orders opened last Friday. This is the longest pre-order lead time among all iPhone models over the past five year, surpassing only the iPhone X in 2017.
Huberty stated that the iPhone 13 mini is doing better than the standard iPhone 13 with a lead-time of 3.1 days. The standard iPhone 13 was not affected.
It is possible that long delivery times are due to low supply. However, Huberty stated that Morgan Stanley's supply chain check indicated that there were no near-term component headwinds. He concluded that the iPhone's long lead times are at least partially due to strong early demand.
The four iPhone 13 models will be available to customers starting Friday, September 24, and then in stores on Friday. The iPhone 13 lineup features key features such as a faster A15 Bionic processor, camera improvements and longer battery life. ProMotion displays are available on the Pro models with variable refresh rates up to 120Hz.
