Apple iPhone X Still Hard To Find In Stores, Even As Online Lead Times Improve

Back in October, Apple Inc. AAPL’s iPhone X sold out within 10 minutes of opening preorder sales.

Now, a little more than a month later, finding the shelved product is equally challenging, but online fulfillment is improving.

The Analyst

Loup Ventures managing partner Gene Munster is bullish on Apple but does not issue ratings or price targets.

The Thesis

The iPhone X has seen online lead times accelerate from 10.1 days to 7.7 days, even as in-store availability has fallen from about 16 percent to 7 percent, according to Loup research.

The product has remained in relative short supply since its release, ranging from 2 percent in-store availability in the days before Thanksgiving to 26 percent the following days.

“We anticipate iPhone X lead times of more than four days to continue for the balance of 2017 and expect the iPhone X to reach supply demand equilibrium sometime in January,” Munster wrote in a Monday post. “That’s a slight positive for the outlook for Apple’s Mar-18 quarter.”

When the iPhone X was first released, Munster reported long online lead times and store lines more than double his expectations, signaling product demand exceeding that of the company’s previous three models and bolstering forecasts for average selling price.

Price Action

At the time of publication, Apple was trading marginally higher at $171.56.

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Photo courtesy of Apple.