Wedbush hikes Apple price target to $310 on strong iPhone demand

There seems to be some real, meaningful pent-up demand for Apple’s new iPhone lineup. Wedbush lifted its price target to $310 from $270 in a Monday analyst note, writing that early demand for the recent launch means this is “turning into a real upgrade cycle” for the company after years of softer launches, “based on the early strong demand signs.”
Shannon Carroll for Quartz:
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The bullish call from Wedbush — and lead analyst Dan Ives — comes after what analysts describe as a strong opening weekend for Apple’s latest product cycle. Ives wrote that he has been “positively surprised on the demand trajectory.” Wedbush estimates that iPhone 17 demand is running 10–15% ahead of last year’s iPhone 16, with supply checks in Asia already pointing to planned production hikes of about 20% for the base and Pro models. Shipping times tell a similar story: The iPhone 17 Pro Max has quickly become the hardest to find, with delivery dates stretching weeks in multiple regions.
Ives wrote that he was expecting this upgrade cycle to be a “good, but not great one.” Instead, he said, a pent-up pool of about 315 million iPhones that haven’t been upgraded in four years — a backlog that, combined with modest design tweaks, seems to be driving stronger-than-expected replacement demand — is helping the company find “the magical formula out of the gates.”
The firm now argues that Street forecasts of 230 million iPhone units in FY26 look too low and pegs a more realistic range at 240 to 250 million units.
The model mix tells its own story. The Pro Max appears to be the biggest retail draw, but the standard iPhone 17 is surprising analysts with online strength. Meanwhile, the Air is still widely available in most markets. Wedbush, however, thinks the Air “‘could be the surprise’ of this Apple upgrade cycle” based on in-store checks and conversations with customers…
Ives said Apple could lean more heavily on Google’s Gemini via search and system-level integrations, creating a revenue stream that the market hasn’t priced in.
“We believe the AI monetization piece could add $75 to $100 per share to the Apple story over the coming few years as it finally plays out after a very disappointing WWDC this past June,” Ives wrote. “We believe no ‘AI premium’ is factored into Apple’s stock at current prices which makes this a compelling large cap tech name to own into year-end and 2026.”

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