iPhone 6s demand in China is strong, iPhone 6s Plus stronger

It is probably not news by now, but suffice it to say, Apple is doing it again. No matter how disappointing some aspects or features are even to some Apple fans, pre-order interest in any new Apple product is always strong. Even in China, where Apple still doesn't have complete dominance, the iPhone 6s and the larger iPhone 6s Plus seem poised to sell out very early, judging by how long buyers will have to wait just to get their hands on Apple's latest shiny smartphone.

This isn't a comprehensive study, much less a scientific one. The evidence gathered by the iPhone inventory blog isn't the direct amount of supply, which of course no one but Apple and its partners know, but the back order status of the devices. The presumption is that the longer the wait time, the less remaining supply there is, and therefore the greater the demand. Of course, it can't take into account the possibility that supply for a particular model might be substantially low in the first place, which would skew the figures.

Taking things at face value, however, demand for the new iPhones are going strong, even in China. In that market that Apple has been trying to woo for the past 2 years or so, the waiting time for iPhone 6s is two to three weeks. For the iPhone 6s Plus it's three to four weeks. This trend is mirrored in the UK, where the wait times for both devices are exactly the same.

Things are a bit less unified due to being available from different carriers. Regardless, however, the trend is mostly the same, which is to say, positive. T-Mobile's iPhone 6s Plus also shows the same three to four week range, while AT&T and Verizon have much longer periods for the higher capacity models. All have the iPhone 6s earmarked for a September 25 shipping, except for T-Mobile's Rose Gold.

Based on the assumptions of the blog's numbers, we could say that the iPhone 6s Plus is actually in great demand. This would yet be another one Apple's historical ironies, considering how the late Jobs, and therefore the company, ridiculed large smartphones in the past. Now, however, they might have proven that the market does indeed want a larger iPhone. Then again, Apple might have actually made less 6s Plus units available for the first batch, which would account for the much longer waiting time.

SOURCE: CNBC