With more than enough demand for Apple's newest iPhones during the company's fiscal first quarter, iPhone sales during the three months will be mostly dependent on how many iPhones it could produce -- a storyline that has played out again and again every iPhone launch since 2007.
This means following indicators of Apple's iPhone supply progress during the crucial quarter provides some insight into how well the tech giant may perform. Fortunately, Apple seems to have wrapped up its holiday quarter with supply nearly in line with demand.
It was clear after Apple's iPhone 6 launch weekend that the tech giant hit a home run with its 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and its 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus.
Even without China included in the initial launch countries for the new iPhone lineup, as it was for the iPhone 5s and 5c, Apple set a new launch weekend sales record of 10 million iPhones, up from 9 million for the iPhone launch in 2013. But, as usual, launch sales during the weekend were limited by supply. Many versions of the iPhone quickly sold out both in stores and online.
Catching supply up to demand this year, however, is proving to be more of a challenge than it was last year. Retail store availability of the new iPhone models and online shipping times have, so far, lagged behind respective availability and shipping times for the 5s and 5c last year.
This trend continues into 2015, though the difference from the year-ago period of iPhone supply indicators with those today is closing.
Today, most versions of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are shipping within one business day, while a few are shipping within three to five business days. This time last year, all new iPhone models had a shipping time of "within 24 hours."
