Enough customers are snapping up the base-model iPhone 17 that Apple reportedly asked the companies that assemble the handset to increase production.
There are also signs that the top-of-the-line iPhone 17 Pro Max is selling well.
Strong demand for base-model iPhone 17 brings increased production
The iPhone 17 series just hit store shelves on Friday, and as always, buyers lined up to be among the first to get the new models. That said, heavy demand for the base-model iPhone on launch day is unusual because early adopters generally prefer the Pro variants.
Nevertheless, Apple told companies that assemble its handsets to push up production of the most affordable version of its new handsets by 30% or more, according to an unconfirmed report by The Information published on Friday.
Buyers aren’t bypassing iPhone 17 Pro Max
Strong sales of the $799 iPhone 17 variant could be a sign that buyers are opting for the lower-cost option and forgoing the pricier Pro Max version. But other evidence indicates that’s not what’s happening.
When Apple started presales of the 2025 models on September 12, the iPhone 17 Pro Max was the first to sell out. A week later, orders for many configurations of this premium version placed on Saturday through the U.S. Apple Store have a delivery window starting in mid-October — a three-week wait. Neither would be true if there were feeble demand for this model.
At the same time, order a base-model iPhone 17 from the U.S. Apple store on Saturday, and the wait could stretch out to the first week of October — 17 days or more.
Earlier this week, Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst with TF International Securities, said demand for most models in the iPhone 17 series is outpacing last year’s iPhone 16 series. Clearly, that includes both the high-end and the low-end models — to the point where even Apple was caught off guard and needs to have many more base-model iPhone 17 units assembled.
That said, interest in the super-slim new iPhone Air apparently remains tepid.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
