Apple Says iPhone X Demand is 'Off the Charts' After Device Quickly Sells Out Around the World

[Agent2015]

Plenty of professional supply-side firms report on this. Don't need personal, direct knowledge.

And plenty of professional supply-side firms get it wrong every time. We won't truly know until Apple releases its quarterly earning reports covering the release of the iPhone X. I would bet on a very strong report. Don't you think the likes of Samsung, Google, etc would love to have the same situation on their hands?

 

[Fuzzball84]

Managed to order 11 of these babies... even one for the dog..

wooohoo

Apple take my money!

 

[OneMike]

I guess the iPhone X was too expensive.

Although I can't imagine spending that much on a phone. I guess plenty of people could care less and will pay whatever it takes.

can’t tell stock numbers to be fair

 

[kazmac]

Fair comment. I don't like seeing $1K+ phones become "normalized" either. But the question still remains - will consumers keep buying $1K phones year after year or keep them for a few. I'll keep mine at least 2 years, maybe more. It's not like I'm going to be busting at the seams for storage. 256 is way more than I need. I don't think I'm alone here and could be a problem for Apple going forward.

Sound reason. That is why I am striving to keep my 7+ for at least two years to get more of the bang for the buck (unless Apple releases an SE2 before March 2019.)

256gb: I thought the same thing insofar as storage size with my iPad Pro 2nd gen. I barely had it dip under 175gb when I was using it.

May your X be rock solid for as long as you own it. I do not begrudge folks who want new tech every year, who am I to judge what others do with their money? Enjoy it.

At any rate, as long as Apple make iPhones that are inline with what I need and want to pay, I'm good.

 

[69650]

Exactly. In a market with reasonable substitutes, supply scarcity just drives many people to buy a different product.

Every iPhone launch has suffered from supply constraints. Either Apple are incompetent at manufacturing or they know Apple fans will wait patiently for their iPhone rather than jump ship to another brand.

Steve Jobs admitted that Apple do it deliberately by saying that people want what they can’t have.

 

[Abazigal]

Oh f*ck off Apple with your inane statements. You never post numbers so nobody ever actually knows how many you've sold. It's very easy to sell out of something you have f*ck all of in the first place.

This drivel is one of the many reasons I've left the ecosystem, it's become a company that is pretentious beyond words.

Come on Essential phone, up your game, you look and feel like the Apple I used to love

You will eventually find out during their quarterly earnings calls. And as numbers will invariably show, they ship an insane number of iPhones every year.

One bets against Apple to their own detriment.

 

[MarkB786]

And plenty of professional supply-side firms get it wrong every time. We won't truly know until Apple releases its quarterly earning reports covering the release of the iPhone X. I would bet on a very strong report. Don't you think the likes of Samsung, Google, etc would love to have the same situation on their hands?

I definitley hope for a strong earnings report. Good for the sector.

 

[gaximus]

I chose in store pickup too, shipping had already slipped to 2-3 weeks but I was able to pick up in store at a scheduled time. Does this mean we are reserved/guaranteed a phone? Does this mean we can slip in and out of the store quickly? I have a time set for 12:30-1:00, we are leaving town that day and need to leave as soon as possible.

Yes you are reserved/guaranteed an iPhone. In my experience you can get in and out pretty quickly if you have a reservation time. Just be sure to already have your current phone backed up,(if your trading in) and set your new iPhone up as a new device and you won’t have to wait as long for the initial sync and can get out faster. Then restore it to your backup later.

 

[PhoneI]

I don't believe these challenges are unique to Apple, especially considering that they manufacture a large volume of just a few products. Apple's setup is actually ideal for ease of production, distribution, and profitability.

My point being that Apple (and maybe Samsung) are the only two companies possibly ever, that had to manufacture and distribute a product in the volume they are doing now. Apple sold over 200 million iPhones in 2016. What other product can you name that EVER was produced and sold in those volumes?

 

[SeaFox]

This is ROFL material. Its a headline that pre-orders are "off the charts" and based on sell outs... but we all know they had like 1/10th the supply they usually have because they've rushed this product out and having trouble making them. Is there anything that won't be spun as a positive?

Another alternate view: iPhone X sales "off the charts" due to pent up demand for an iPhone with a design that competes better with high-end Android phones -- Less bezel, OLED.

 

[TheRealCBONE]

I was legit expecting an Apple spokesperson to say on the record that they were disappointed with the tepid pre-sales of the new new. Or even something less than super-positive. Seriously, I thought THIS would be the Apple product they would talk about in grounded terms and not hypebeast superlatives. For real.

 

[Stratus Fear]

Every iPhone launch has suffered from supply constraints. Either Apple are incompetent at manufacturing or they know Apple fans will wait patiently for their iPhone rather than jump ship to another brand.

Yeah, this doesn’t make sense. You’re basically saying that demand for the iPhone is perfectly inelastic to supply availability. You’d have to prove that 100% of smartphone buyers who want to buy an iPhone are willing to wait an indefinite amount of time for supply. This is laughably unrealistic. We can debate the %-age of potential buyers that are willing to wait vs those who are not, but it’s a given that those who would walk to a reasonable substitute certainly do exist (the number of “I decided to buy a Pixel 2 XL instead of waiting for the X” threads I’ve seen in a number of forums are confirmation of this). And I say this as someone who doesn’t personally consider an Android device a substitute good. But we fanboys are a minority compared to the market.

So, given the above, it would behoove Apple’s bottom line and quarterly results calls to try to fulfill demand as much as possible. Generating artificial scarcity would certainly be leaving money on the table (since they’d lose a non-zero number of sales in any given release cycle), and if shareholders found out they were intentionally doing that, I’d expect the board and Tim Cook to be ousted. If I were a shareholder, I’d certainly be calling for it.

Your reply and those of others who keep parroting this theory usually fail to take into account many things that could affect Apple’s supply chain. While it’s certainly possible that Apple is grossly incompetent, it’s more likely that the following things affect Apple’s supply (this is not an exhaustive list): 1) difficulty of ramping up new technology/manufacturing processes, 2) difficulty of accurate prediction of demand with relative precision because of 3) trying to keep inventory low because 4) keeping too much inventory is expensive (its easier and cheaper to produce supply as directly to demand as possible, rather than to produce to inventory, because inventory has a storage cost involved; this is why Apple is said to keep mere days of inventory on average; this is exactly how Cook set things up when he came to Apple, he saved them a load of money in that area), 5) Apple’s supply chain likely also has a certain amount of lead time in response to demand.

There’s likely many other factors that play into this that I’m not even mentioning here. Thus, chalking this up to “artificial scarcity” is merely an uninformed argument that is pretty much only used to slam the company because “how dare I not get launch day delivery! Apple must be intentionally slighting me and hundreds of other diehard fans to drum up demand!” while completely ignoring the obvious fact that generating unfulfillable demand is pointless, if it even worked that way (which it doesn’t). Most people don’t look at a product and go “gee that’s always sold out, maybe I should try to get one” because most people aren’t Apple diehards on MacRumors.

Steve Jobs admitted that Apple do it deliberately by saying that people want what they can’t have.

I’d love to see the context of that quote. I have a hunch that he didn’t mean what you think he meant. Steve was many things (including a great showman) but ultimately he wasn’t stupid when it came to doing business.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Yes, the appearance of scarcity is a huge part of marketing theory. Companies like Samsung can make lots of different models, but Apple struggles to make enough of one single product (and it is not even a market-leading product in terms of volume)? The appearance of Scarcity has become an Apple NEED. Without it, their stock plummets and Cook loses some of his stock options.

I have strong belief in this over the last decade! I see no difference with limited edition and limited production run models for speaker systems, art pieces and exotic cars! At least with those it’s officially stated as limited production run and delivery. Apple has been mum officially.

This is ROFL material. Its a headline that pre-orders are "off the charts" and based on sell outs... but we all know they had like 1/10th the supply they usually have because they've rushed this product out and having trouble making them. Is there anything that won't be spun as a positive?

How about a more accurate headline... "As expected, manufacturing delays led to early sell outs of new iPhone X".

I honestly believe this isn’t too far from pump and dump sort of stuck practice and the FCC should really look into this. Add to no ore-order numbers this makes valuation in the stock from today into the next quarter without hard numbers baseless.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Demand is probably closer to the iPhone 6s or 7 at launch, just with less supply. Still decent when you consider how many sales the iPhone 8 would've taken from iPhone X.

Taken? I honk when supply constraints if not improved but increased for the iPhone X if similar to what we saw with the AirPods the first 8mths of role out (say 4mths delay for the X) then you’ll see orders cancelled, users go for the 8, no AppleCare + as if March 2018 shows up and those ordering the X from December 10th onward haven’t received theirs then what’s he point?! Those users will wait out for the 9/11 or migrate to android.

Keep an eye on this situation.

"No one will pay $1,000 for a phone."

Hmm. Considering carrier upgrades, USA citizens getting Upgrade Program as a lease, most likely this statement actually holds true! Nobody is paying $1000+ for an iPhone at least not up front fully. Those that do well most likely are in small numbers (I’m thinking under 5mill in USA alone, 20mil globally paying full retail).

I don’t think Apple will break done the numbers unless it’s very significant as a justification for the price of R&D and quality craftsmanship - a word Jony Ive will be quoted saying when referring to the retail price paid is significant in an upcoming interview.

 

[Skoal]

This is going to be wild when people realize Face ID is completely insecure for practical usage

Insecure for practical use age as in how?

 

[Tech198]

And i'm sure Tim is proud of himself. The iPhone :- Apple is having trouble keeping up with customer demand.

 

[cola79]

Apple sold over 200 million iPhones in 2016. What other product can you name that EVER was produced and sold in those volumes?

Toilet paper and billions of other products.

 

[johngordon]

Oh f*ck off Apple with your inane statements. You never post numbers so nobody ever actually knows how many you've sold. It's very easy to sell out of something you have f*ck all of in the first place.

This drivel is one of the many reasons I've left the ecosystem, it's become a company that is pretentious beyond words.

Come on Essential phone, up your game, you look and feel like the Apple I used to love

So a company has released a new product, and put out some sort of statement about how the demand for it is very high.

And that's the thing that has got you raging? Sweet Jesus.

And yes, they could sell out quickly if they have f*ck all in the first place. But presumably they aren't talking about how many they have sold, they are talking about demand for how many they are likely to sell based on initial orders.
[doublepost=1509187256][/doublepost]

The iPhone 8 is just the iPhone 6 again with a better chip inside. No one was buying it,

No, it really isn't.

Anyway, what have the Romans ever done for us?

 

[DeepIn2U]

Nobody would pay that mich for a phone, not even Tim Cook.

But its not just a phone because it is called a phone.

Well i’ll list out few things it also is....

Phone
Web browser
Alarm
Health trackers
Secure payment and authentication
GPS
Digital assistant
Personal digital organizer
Camera
Photo album
Email and communications

Etc etc

And... torch too

You’ve separted 1 function into two showing the reason why so many smartphones failed in the USA before iPhone.

Digital assistant
Personal digital organizer

^ this is one concept called Personal Digital Assitant (PDA; remember Palm/Psion or Symbian)? This included: Contacts, Calendar, Calculator, Notepad, nd email client.

If you don’t have these then you don’t have a smartphone. Hence why Apple didn’t call the iPhone (OG) smartphones but instead Phones. Only when the App Store debuted did smartphone became used in their marketing.

 

[69650]

Most people don’t look at a product and go “gee that’s always sold out, maybe I should try to get one” because most people aren’t Apple diehards on MacRumors.

That’s exactly what many people do. Shortages = Lines at the Apple Store = Free Publicity = Buzz = Increased Demand.

It’s a classic marketing ploy.

You are suggesting Tim Cook’s Just-In-Time manufacturing strategy is the reason for the shortages because they want to save a few dollars by not building up sufficient inventory to meet initial demand. If true, that is gross negligence on his part because it is losing Apple sales.

Either way it’s either deliberate or incompetent.

 

[JosephAW]

I had a purchase confirmation at 3:03 am Eastern Time and the delivery Nov 07 - Nov 17

You might want to delete this attachment?

 

[AdonisSMU]

So a company has released a new product, and put out some sort of statement about how the demand for it is very high.

And that's the thing that has got you raging? Sweet Jesus.

And yes, they could sell out quickly if they have f*ck all in the first place. But presumably they aren't talking about how many they have sold, they are talking about demand for how many they are likely to sell based on initial orders.
[doublepost=1509187256][/doublepost]

No, it really isn't.

Anyway, what have the Romans ever done for us?

Yeah it is. For many people its barely an upgrade from the iPhone 6.

 

[Stratus Fear]

That’s exactly what many people do. Shortages = Lines at the Apple Store = Free Publicity = Buzz = Increased Demand.

It’s a classic marketing ploy.

That worked out so well for the iPhone 8, too. Oh wait...

Yeah, I see very little support for your argument offered here. Artificial scarcity is something that only works if 1) a company is a monopoly (Apple is not) or 2) they are selling a limited release product (the iPhone is not). And you’re supposed to raise the price of your scarce product to take advantage of the scarcity, which Apple is not (which is why phones are being scalped on eBay for $1500+). If Apple really is practicing artificial scarcity, then they are horrendously stupid and doing it wrong. You are simply wrong.

You are suggesting Tim Cook’s Just-In-Time manufacturing strategy is the reason for the shortages because they want to save a few dollars by not building up sufficient inventory to meet initial demand. If true, that is gross negligence on his part because it is losing Apple sales.

I suggested a lot more factors than just that. In initial release of product, it’s probably not possible to meet the initial demand all at once because it’s probably not reasonable to either produce more than a few weeks in advance or store that much inventory, and there is also the possibility of production issues which have been all over the news the past month. Additionally, what if they produced too much and the expected demand didn’t fully materialize? Then you’re paying for unsold inventory. It’s a delicate balance that’s sometimes hard to properly predict and reach.

Either way it’s either deliberate or incompetent.

Okay.

 

[Rogifan]

It's not lying when they haven't actually said anything. It's like describing a film as "unbelievable", there are many ways and scales in which it can be interpreted. Also we won't really find out as they lump all iPhone sales numbers together when they report.

Anyone who has had the misfortune of working in marketing knows that the strategy of perceived demand is used to generate demand. It is one of the very first things they teach you. The original Audi R8 had a waiting list time of over a year, people will wait for a premium product and the companies use this. Same way as concerts are allowed to sell out before lo-behold, more dates are announced, due to high demand. Buy now, think later.

I truly find it astonishing that some people don't recognise this.

I get it but no way would Apple intentionally limit the number X’s avsilable for sale. There’s no guarantee that a delay of a month or more is going to make people want the X more or place an order for the X over something they can get now. Apple is an established company, iPhone an established product. No need artificially limit supply to increase demand.
[doublepost=1509205201][/doublepost]

Every iPhone launch has suffered from supply constraints. Either Apple are incompetent at manufacturing or they know Apple fans will wait patiently for their iPhone rather than jump ship to another brand.

Steve Jobs admitted that Apple do it deliberately by saying that people want what they can’t have.

I’m sorry this is stupid. After 10 years and over a billion iOS devices sold Apple doesn’t need to artificially limit supply to create demand perception. Maybe they did that when the first iPod came out but they’re not doing it now. No executive worth his or her salary at Apple can assume customers will wait patiently vs. buying something else or leaving Apple all together. Also if this really was Apple’s MO how come the 8 wasn’ts/isn’t out of stock?

 

[Black Magic]

What color you get?

I just canceled today.