Preorders for the iPhone X opened early on Friday morning.

Right now, people who order an iPhone X from Apple will have to wait 5-6 weeks to have it delivered.

Analyst Gene Munster found that first-day iPhone X deliveries in the United States from Apple were mostly sold out in 17 minutes, and were totally gone in 38 minutes.

Many people who wanted the new iPhone X on the first day it was available were disappointed when shipping times for pre-orders slipped early Friday morning.

Pre-orders scheduled to be delivered on the first day, November 3, seemed to sell out quickly, at least from Apple's online store.

Now Loup Ventures founder and Apple analyst Gene Munster has provided some additional data on just how quickly Apple's stock of first-day iPhone X units ran out. His firm checked "lead times," or Apple's estimate shipping date, eight times on Friday morning.

He found that, at least in the United States, all iPhone X models except for those for the Sprint network were showing two- to three-week shipping times as of 3:17 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday morning, or 17 minutes after the official start of pre-orders.

Bloomberg found similar trends in overseas markets.

Here's the chart:

Loup Ventures

Munster tracks these numbers because he regards them as a solid proxy for the consumer demand for Apple's newest phone.

Apple said in a statement that demand for the device was "off the charts," but hasn't released pre-order numbers for the iPhone since 2014.

Investors want to see healthy demand for the iPhone X because it suggests that Apple could have a strong sales cycle when it starts making enough of the phone to meet demand. According to Munster's analysis, the long wait times suggest strong demand.

"Current lead times are 5-6 weeks, which we view as a sign that demand for the iPhone X is trending more favorable than investor expectations," Munster wrote.

Apple also said it will have stock of the device at Apple stores on November 3, and it recommended that people get to the stores early in a press release.