It’s time for Wall Street to get more bullish on Apple stock as the company’s newest iPhones hit shelves worldwide on Friday, according to Jim Cramer. Cramer said that early signs of stronger-than-expected demand for Apple’s iPhone 17 models and iPhone Air, coupled with upbeat remarks from Apple CEO Tim Cook himself, should be enough for more analysts to start raising their estimates. Fresh from interviewing Cook at Apple’s flagship New York City store on launch day, Jim cited positive commentary and a price target increase from JPMorgan. “It’s a race. It’s a race to be higher,” he told his CNBC colleagues on the ” Squawk on the Street ” set at the New York Stock Exchange. “Those thinking that this will be a so-so launch. The numbers are not saying [that]. The numbers are saying that it’s better.” “We expected, we meaning Wall Street, that there would be some demand exceeding supply. We didn’t expect 1,000 people to show up at Dubai,” Jim said. “The numbers in China are much better. The pre-orders in one week from when I talked to Tim last week are much, much better. The Street had not expected anything very big.” Last Friday, Jim was with Cook at Corning ‘s Harrodsburg, Kentucky, factory, which makes the glass for iPhones and Apple Watches. Reading the tea leaves on what Cook told him this Friday morning, Jim said during the Club’s Morning Meeting, “There have been moments where I say this year looks better than expected, and Tim will say ‘Yes.’ Then, there are moments where he will tell me that ‘it’s better than expected.'” He added, “That is what we’re having,” suggesting it was a very bullish sign. “You want to stay long on this [stock]. This could be the breakout moment,” Jim stressed. “The reason that I say this is because people are looking for low single digits for this. I think we’re going to get better than that.” It’s no surprise to Jim that the new iPhone models seem promising already. After all, he has described them as huge bargains, especially when a customer combines incentives from cellular providers like Verizon and T-Mobile with the trade-in value of their older iPhones. Jim has said he personally wants to get the new iPhone Air after holding it because it feels much lighter than the other models. Unlike Cramer, Wall Street analysts have given a mixed reaction to the rollout of the iPhone 17. While Friday’s price target increase from JPMorgan to $280 per share from $255 cited indications of favorable demand in the initial days of the new iPhone launch, others earlier this week were not sold. Jefferies said Monday that preorder lead times, a key gauge of demand, were worse than last year in key markets, like the U.S. So much so that analysts at Jefferies said they saw possible downside risk to their iPhone sales estimates. Jim has been saying that analysts don’t and can’t know how sales are going. He asked Cook on Friday what he thought of the analyst chatter, to which the CEO responded: “I only look at what we’re projecting, not what others are.” Cook’s been especially busy over the past couple of weeks. After visiting Corning last week and appearing at Friday’s New York City iPhone launch, Cook said he plans to travel later in the day to Detroit to visit the new Apple Manufacturing Academy. It was set up as part of Apple’s massive commitment to invest in the U.S. over the next four years. Last month, Cook appeared at the White House with President Donald Trump and raised Apple’s pledge by $100 billion to $600 billion. That move appeased Trump , who has been pushing companies to bring manufacturing back home or face higher tariffs. Cook said Friday the latest price hikes on iPhone models aren’t related to tariffs. “There’s no increase for tariffs in the prices to be totally clear,” the CEO told Jim. AAPL YTD mountain Apple YTD Tariffs were one of many concerns Apple has faced this year, which pressured the stock in 2025. It has, however, been on a roll since Cook’s White House announcement. Shares closed around $203 each on Aug. 5. The next day, it was revealed that Cook would appear with Trump, and the stock shot higher. The actual event happened after the market closed on Aug. 6, leading to a continued rally over the following two days. With Friday’s more than 3% jump, Apple shares have gained 20% since Aug. 5. While still down over 2% year to date, at current levels, the stock was roughly 6% away from its record close of $259 on Dec. 26, 2024. Despite the recent rally in Apple shares, there are still worries about the company’s lackluster generative artificial intelligence rollout, along with increasing smartphone competition in China. We’ll have to see how all that plays out over the weeks and months to come. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AAPL. 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