iPhone 16 lead times increase in US, UK, India, decrease in China: Citi

Lead times for Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 16 line have had a mixed start, investment firm Citi said on Monday.
“Compared with Sep 13, our tracker on Sep 20 shows increasing delivery times in the two base models across all countries by around a week on average,” analyst Atif Malik wrote in an investor note. Malik, who has a Buy rating and $255 price target on Apple, said delivery times for the Pro model increased between three and seven days in the U.S., U.K. and India, while China saw a decreased by roughly 12 days.
The changes in the Pro Max model are even more mixed, Malik added, as the U.S. and U.K. remained the same. Conversely, the lead time in India rose while it fell in China.
“Compared with iPhone 15, the base model is about the same except China, and pro models are all shorter,” Malik explained. “That said, we note that supply chain is better this year for the entire series. We believe the availability of the Apple Intelligence iOS18 features will likely influence [iPhone 16] sales cycle and seasonality this year.”
Apple shares fell 0.7% on Monday in late afternoon trading.

Tags: AAPL