Apple’s stocks look set to go up as customers flocked to pre-order the newly launched iPhone 15.

When the four new iPhone 15 models were released for pre-order last Friday , the Apple Store crashed after strong demand from users left the website unable to cope with the traffic. When it did, delivery estimates increased to weeks in advance for some models.

More than 40 countries had access to the launch, which followed the Apple Wanderlust event on 12 September.

Wanderlust, Apple’s latest launch event, saw the world’s most valuable company introduce several new updates to its existing products. Key highlights of the iPhone specifically include a new titanium casing (making the phone 10% lighter), an improved camera and a new A17 semiconductor chip for faster performance. 

While Apple’s share price fell 1.5% in early trading and as much as 3% after its Wanderlust event Tuesday 12 September 2023, it clawed back some of its losses on Monday to close just under 1% lower over the past 5 days. This is in addition to gains of around 40% in 2023, pushing the tech giant to a world-first of becoming the only company worth over US$3 trillion.

Having said that, the tech titan has seen a decline in revenue over the past three quarters. Given the iPhone accounts for about 50% of Apple’s sales, the company will be hoping the new iPhone model performs as strongly as demand indicators suggest. 

The high-end Pro Max model, which starts at US$1199, quickly saw its promised delivery slip from September 22 to as late as mid-November in the US, in a good early sign for Apple. 

Some key economic analysts were also bullish about the new iPhone 15.

According to Morgan Stanley, Apple’s latest iPhone preorder data is “better than feared”. 

Lead times for the iPhone 15 Pro Max are averaging five to six weeks, the analysts wrote in a note on Monday, “the longest of any model launched in the last 7 years.” 

Leading wealth management and advisory firm, Wedbush Securities, said pre-orders for the new iPhone 15 “are tracking much stronger than we and the Street expected and up roughly 10-12% from iPhone 14 based on our analysis”.

“Our Asia supply chain checks this [past] weekend give us increased confidence that iPhone units should be roughly 85 million units out of the gates and could be close to 90 million as eye-popping carrier promotions already underway will be a major catalyst for upgrades into holiday season.”

The updates keep coming as Apple also released software updates for its iPhone, iPad and smartwatch on Monday, adding new features and designs for compatible devices. 

The iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and watchOS 10 updates add a much-improved keyboard with autocorrect that will let you swear, new standby modes, contact posters, greater customisation and the biggest reworking of the Apple Watch’s interface since its launch in 2015.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.