14 DAY TRIAL // iPhone XR is now available for pre-order, but with waiting times barely increasing after the Friday launch, most people are tempted to believe that demand for the device is rather slow right now.
And while the device still being in stock could be a sign that the iPhone XR fails to generate the excitement that Apple expected, top-rated analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says this is not the case.
In fact, he says in a note to investors, iPhone XR is already outpacing sales recorded by the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus last year after their launch.
Both iPhone 8 models launched ahead of iPhone X, as the latter was hit by a small delay and only became available on November 2, 2017.
Kuo still believes that iPhone XR would become the best selling model of the year, and he estimates that a total of 38 million units may be shipped during the current quarter, out of a maximum of 83 million iPhones sold.
iPhone XR available with October 26 shipping
The analyst believes that most people who purchase the iPhone XR are specifically interested in the price of the handset, whereas iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max buyers are mostly tech-savvy customers.
iPhone XR is available in the United States starting from $749, while iPhone XS begins at $999 for the base level.
If you purchase an iPhone XR from Apple’s website through one of the big four US carriers, the device ships with a one to two weeks delay. However, Apple’s online store sells it with no waiting time, with all units to be shipped on October 26.
It remains to be seen how demand for iPhone XR would increase in the coming weeks, but one of the reasons for the reduced waiting time could be none other than enough inventory prepared by Apple. People close to the matter previously said iPhone XR accounted for more than 50 percent of all orders placed at suppliers.