Strong iPhone 14 Pro Demand Continues into Black Friday

In a recent note to clients, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives says Apple is continuing to see strong demand for the iPhone 14 Pro / Pro Max units ahead of the forthcoming Black Friday shopping weekend (via Seeking Alpha).

The analyst, however, pointed out that ongoing supply issues amid the latest wave of Covid shutdowns in China may hold the Cupertino tech giant back.

“The zero Covid China shutdowns in Foxconn have been a major gut punch to Apple this quarter and we believe have taken roughly 5% of iPhone 14 units out of the supply chain and thus putting Cupertino in a ‘major shortage’ heading into the next month,” wrote Ives.

The analyst predicts Apple to sell 8 million iPhones this weekend, down from 10 million last year “with the gap being mostly supply driven.” He further noted that despite the economic climate, there is “strong” iPhone upgrade activity from AT&T and Verizon in the U.S. and in-store activity has been “solid” in most stores.

“We believe by early December it will be increasingly difficult to get your hands on an iPhone 14 Pro with many delivery times likely pushed through to early January,” Ives noted.

Apple has already warned this month that COVID-19 restrictions would result in lower iPhone 14 shipments than previously expected.

“COVID-19 restrictions have temporarily impacted the primary iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max assembly facility located in Zhengzhou, China,” Apple continued, adding that the facility was “operating at significantly reduced capacity.”

Ives concluded his note by highlighting iPhone 14 inventory issues at Apple, with some storage options and colors seen as “limited” and only likely to get worse.