Apple’s cheapest iPhone 15 Is winning buyers after upgrades

In China, Apple’s biggest overseas market, wait times for the basic version quadrupled from last year, Counterpoint said. — Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP

Apple Inc.’s basic iPhone 15 model is taking almost twice as long for deliveries this year than its predecessor, signaling high demand for the company’s latest handsets.

Buyers in the US need to wait for 10 days to receive the basic model, up from six days for the previous generation device launched last year, according to data from Counterpoint Research. At the other end of the spectrum, Apple’s top-tier iPhone 15 Pro Max increased pre-order waiting times to a record, the researchers found. Significant upgrades to both models drove renewed demand, though some of it came at the cost of Apple’s other options, the 15 Plus and 15 Pro, which both saw diminished wait times.