KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup went on sale Friday, reportedly drawing long lines of customers in Europe and Asia amid strong demand for the new products—especially for the Pro models.
- The phones have met with a mixed reaction from analysts, with some saying they are waiting for AI-powered upgrades to the models next year.
- Apple shares have struggled this year amid a view on Wall Street that the company has been slow to catch up in the AI race.
Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 17 lineup went on sale Friday, reportedly drawing long lines of customers in Europe and Asia amid strong demand for the new products—especially for the Pro models.
The tech giant introduced the lineup earlier this month and opened them up for pre-orders, with the new phones including a thinner model, the iPhone Air, as well the more expensive iPhone 17 Pro, Pro Max, and iPhone Air. New Apple Watch and AirPods models were also unveiled. The iPhone 17 Pro is selling for $1,099, up $100 from the iPhone 16, with storage of 256 gigabytes, or double the previous model’s, and a longer battery life.
The phones had met with mixed reaction from analysts, with some, like Morgan Stanley, calling the iPhone Air “a small positive surprise.” Others said they are waiting for AI-powered updates to the lineup that could give Apple’s stock, the sole decliner among the Magnificent 7 tech giants this year, a bigger catalyst for gains.
Slow Rollout of AI Features Have Hit Stock
The shares have been under pressure amid Wall Street concerns that the tech firm has been slow out of the gate in the AI race, with even the new devices lagging at a time when analysts increasingly are touting wearables like smart glasses as a key device to access the technology. Apple has also been increasingly losing ground in China, the world’s largest smartphone market, to domestic rivals like Huawei and Oppo.
According to CNBC, demand is especially strong for the Pro and Pro Max models, with lines in London “notably longer” than they were for the iPhone 16 and consumers in Beijing queuing up the night before to get their hands on the models following strong pre-order sales in China.
Bloomberg said demand for the phones was also strong in Hong Kong, though noted some consumers in China were complaining on social media that they were easily scuffed.
Apple shares, which entered Friday down 5% so far this year, were up slightly in premarket trading.