Apple iPhone wait times have doubled to after Christmas, UBS says - MarketWatch

“[W]e judge our December iPhone portion estimation of 83 cardinal is apt capped and could perchance travel successful little than expectations,” UBS expert David Vogt wrote successful a enactment to clients. “Although request does not look to beryllium the gating factor, based connected conversations with investors, we judge the marketplace is bracing for units to travel successful a cardinal oregon 2 beneath our estimate.”

The exertion behemoth’s banal AAPL, +1.04% roseate 0.9% successful greeting trading but has dropped 9.4% implicit the past 3 months, portion the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +1.63% has declined 8.8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.25% has gained 3.9%.

Vogt said information from UBS Evidence Lab that tracks iPhone availability crossed 30 countries indicated that hold times had accrued successful the latest week crossed astir markets, including the U.S., arsenic “persistent COVID lockdowns successful China are creating proviso disruptions, notably astatine the precocious end.”

Wait times for the iPhone 14 Pro and the Pro Max are astatine 38 days, up 4 days from a week agone and treble what they were 4 weeks ago, the information show.

Wedbush expert Dan Ives said galore Apple stores and retailers are debased connected iPhone 14 inventory crossed the board. He believes astir 8 cardinal iPhones volition beryllium sold implicit the Black Friday weekend, down sharply from 10 cardinal successful the aforesaid play a twelvemonth ago, “with the spread being mostly proviso driven.”

Any weakness successful iPhone income for the 4th won’t beryllium due to the fact that of slowing demand, Ives said.

“We judge request for iPhone 14 units into the all-important Black Friday vacation play is mode up of proviso and could origin large shortages starring into Christmas season,” Ives wrote.

Despite the proviso concerns, UBS’s Vogt reiterated the bargain standing he’s had connected the banal since March 2021, and Wedbush’s Ives maintained the outperform standing he’s had connected Apple for astatine slightest the past 3 years.