Analyst estimates iPhone Xr preorders at 12 million units max

“Preorders for the iPhone XR are better than the equivalents for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, according to Rosenblatt Securities’ Jun Zhang, but that hasn’t stopped the analyst from reducing expectations for the value-oriented iPhone release,” Malcolm Owen reports for AppleInsider.
“In a note received by AppleInsider, the iPhone XR is believed to have preorders of ‘less than or equal to 12 million units,’ based on a one-week wait time in China and no wait time in other major markets,” Owen reports. “In the firm’s September 17 note, the combined pre-orders for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max were around 10 million in the first three days.”
“It is suggested that, while the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max preorders have been generally stronger in the United States than in China, the revers has occurred for the iPhone XR,” Owen reports. “Zhang is also cautious on iPhone XS sales for the second half of the year.. shipments of the iPhone XS continue to be at 15 million for the firm… Previous second half of 2018 estimates have increased from 15 million units shipped to 17.5 million.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Estimating iPhone preorders based on wait times is akin to estimating MacDonald’s hamburger sales based on how long the drive thru took. There’s not nearly enough data. You don’t know the production supply, the mix, the effects of the staggered launch, etc. It’s too early.