There isn't a long waiting list for the iPhone 8 yet (AAPL)

Tim Cook

If you were to log on to Apple.com on Monday and order the newest iPhone, you wouldn't have to wait very long until you received your new device.

In fact, some iPhone 8 models will still arrive by Friday, the first day it hits retail stores, even if it was ordered several days after pre-orders started.

This suggests there will be no shortage of iPhone 8 models this fall and that the iPhone 8 will be easier to find than previous new iPhone models.

"The pre-order lead times are playing out as we expected with similar to the lead times as the smaller size iPhone's over the past three years, but shorter lead times than the larger Plus sizes," Loup Ventures founder Gene Munster wrote in a research post on Monday.

"For the smaller screen sizes, last year we found that average iPhone 7 lead times of 1-2 weeks with five days to launch (same days to launch window as our checks today), which compares to 7-10 days for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S."

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus aren't likely to be the new iPhones in short supply. There is more likely to be a shortage for the iPhone X, which is a redesigned, high-end model that starts at $999. That phone doesn't go on sale until November 3.

Here's a chart from Loup Ventures showing what iPhone delivery times looked like on Sunday:

Screen Shot 2017 09 17 at 7.20.24 PM

In the past, Apple released vague first-weekend iPhone pre-order numbers that give Wall Street analysts a bit of information about whether the new device is a hit or not. But Apple discontinued the practice last year, saying that inital sales for the iPhone 7 were "governed by supply, not demand, and we have decided that it is no longer a representative metric for our investors and customers."

This year, some analysts worry that demand for the high-end iPhone X might cut into iPhone 8 sales, but investors will have to wait for the quarterly earnings to get some details on that mix.

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