Analyst: Demand for iPhone 15 remains strong, especially in China.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives stated that the demand for Apple's new Apple 15 during the holiday season remains strong, especially in the Chinese market.

In a report released on Friday, he wrote, "Despite the negative bear market noise a few months ago, as we enter the important holiday season, our assessment of Apple 15's Asian supply chain remains very rigorous, especially in the Chinese region."

"We have not seen any significant negative revisions in Apple's sales in the Asian region during the holiday season/early 2024, which indicates that we believe the consumer demand environment for Apple 15 has been very stable so far, which is good news for Apple."

Ives estimates that there are over 100 million Apple devices in China alone that are currently in the upgrade window.

Apple launched the Apple 15 in September this year and raised the price of the Apple Pro Max model for the first time since its introduction in 2019.

"Since the release of Apple 15, the US market has been a major bright spot for Apple, and despite concerns about a bearish September, we believe that sales of Apple 14 will increase slightly during the key period from Black Friday to Christmas," Ives said.

Wedbush maintains its outperform rating on Apple. Among the 44 analysts surveyed by FactSet, 28 gave Apple a "buy" or "outperform" rating, 13 gave a "hold" rating, and 3 gave Apple a "sell" or "underperform" rating.

During Apple's third-quarter earnings conference call, Apple's CEO stated that the company's revenue exceeded expectations, setting a quarterly record for September, with sales in multiple markets setting quarterly records, including mainland China, Latin America, the Middle East and South Asia, and India.

Apple's stock price fell 0.7% on Friday, but has surged 51.9% year-to-date, surpassing the 19.2% increase in the S&P 500 index.