Apple Still Can’t Match The Demand For The Base iPhone 17 As Black Friday Drives Higher Sales

Rohail Saleem
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Three Apple iPhones display different customization options, with one showing 'Tue 1 Apr' on the screen, another showing a floral wallpaper with sharing options, and a third with widget and app icons.
Apple is likely to end 2025 as the world's largest smartphone OEM.

Apple's iPhone 17 lineup performed better over the Black Friday week than the iPhone 16 series in the same period last year, as per JPMorgan's iPhone 17 Availability Tracker.

JPMorgan: Apple's iPhone 17 lineup is currently commanding longer year-over-year lead times of around 6 days vs. 4 days for last year's iPhone 16 lineup

JPMorgan has now published the results of its weekly iPhone 17 Product Availability Tracker, noting:

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  1. As per the latest available data, the lead times for the iPhone 17 lineup increased by 1 day week-over-week, which is largely "in-line with seasonality for this time of the year due to Black Friday-related increase in consumer demand."
  2. On average, the iPhone 17 lineup is currently commanding longer year-over-year lead times of around 6 days vs. just 4 days for last year's iPhone 16 lineup, implying a better demand environment.
  3. Critically, the lead times for the base iPhone 17 remain mired in the double-digit days range, indicating that Apple's supply ramp-up is still failing to keep pace with the oncoming demand for the popular model.
  4. The base iPhone 17 model remains the primary driver of the heightened demand for the iPhone 17 lineup.
  5. As per the latest data, the lead times for the iPhone Air increased by 2 days relative to the previous week.
  6. The lead times for the iPhone 17 Pro also increased by 2 days relative to the previous week.
  7. The lead times for the iPhone 17 Pro Max increased by 1 day relative to the previous week vs. an increase of 2 days for the iPhone 16 Pro Max in the comparable period of last year.

This comes as Counterpoint Research recently showed that Apple's iPhones constituted a quarter of all smartphones sold in China during October – a milestone that Apple managed to hit only once before, back in 2022.

The report also noted that smartphone sales in China rose by 8 percent year-over-year in October, largely driven by a 37 percent year-over-year surge in the sale of Apple's iPhones, with 80 percent of those sales concentrated in the new iPhone 17 lineup.

Also, another Counterpoint Research report - released towards the end of November - projected that, for the first time in over a decade, Apple will clinch the proverbial crown for the global smartphone market, leaving Samsung as the runner-up.

Specifically, Apple is likely to end the ongoing year with a 10 percent year-over-year growth in iPhone shipments, which would take its share of the global smartphone market to 19.4 percent - the highest among global smartphone OEMs.

Rohail Saleem Photo

About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.

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