iPhone 6s Plus in Short Supply Due to Backlight Module Production Issues

[Tubamajuba]

if apple shot your dog, would you manipulate the facts to show that the dog ran towards the bullet really fast, and it was in fact, his fault..

I could just as easily say if your neighbor shot your dog, you would manipulate the facts to show that it was somehow Apple's fault. But let's just leave our precious dogs out of this- hopefully nothing even close to that happens to anybody's dog. I fail to see how anything I said even remotely warranted your comment.

I completely agree with that as I've already ordered my 6S Plus with a shipping date of late October. I'm certainly not thrilled with that but I understand that there's nothing i can do about it now but wait. I'm trying to be optimistic about getting it sooner, but it's not the end of the world if i don't.

Going back a bit further however, Apple has done this enough times to know what to expect at launch. They're not being caught off guard by any sales numbers. They know early on when they decide to begin production that it won't be enough and yet they choose to offer a pre-sale knowing well that customers will have to wait a month or even two. While I do see your point about knowing what you're getting into when you order, the part that's shady is this false supply/demand frenzy being created by Apple to give an illusion of a demand that can't possibly be met, when in reality it can.

Thank you for a well-written and reasonable response. Yes, it's certainly strange that year in and year out, Apple has the same issues. It very well could be that they're stretching their supply chain to the limit in order to make their yearly launches. The easiest solution would be to push back their launches- but we know that's not going to happen. I won't pretend to know anything about supply chain management, so that's about all I can say.

However, we too know what to expect every year- a chaotic mess directly preceding and following the launch of every iPhone. I have exactly zero expectations of receiving my 6s Plus anytime before mid-October. I went into my purchase knowing that, and I sure hope that all retailers allowing pre-orders for the 6s Plus make it very clear to their customers that they shouldn't expect their phones on the 25th. I would certainly be pissed if that kind of information were held back from me.

 

[Brien]

The 'new' model always sells out first (see, white 4S, gold 5S). The Rose Gold being the most scarce hardly surprises me... whether it's people wanting the new color out of curiosity or to show it off, I don't know, but this has always been the case.

 

[vvswarup]

It's by design. A marketing ploy...

Yup. Marketing 101. Create a tightening of supply of your highest margin product...to create a frenzy and a sense of exclusiveness for those who have one. The apple lust machine in full force.

Apple, get it together! There was a iPhone 6 plus shortage last year as well. Apple knows that a lot of people (especially in Asia markets) like their phablets. They have the money to produce enough to keep up with the demand.

But they like to have shortages because it makes the iPhone even more desirable.

Or Apple made an estimate of demand of how many people were going to buy the iPhone and asked its suppliers to produce exactly that many, give or take a few but for whatever reason, that number turned out to be too low. After all, it's only common sense that you don't make too much or too little of a product that you're trying to sell. If you have too little, then you lose revenue on people who can't get their widget. If you make too much, it costs money to keep the extras. But on second thought, it's much more fun to come up with asinine conspiracy theories of intentionally keeping supply low in order to create the illusion of strong demand.

 

[jagolden]

From an engineering standpoint, if you're having issues with quality control while trying to mass produce a major product, you don't begin sales or at least halt all current sales until it's figured out. Yield issue means having trouble keeping them consistent from a QA/QC standpoint. The fact that they're shipping or preparing to ship while still having quality issues is worrisome. This is what causes "antenna-gate" issues. But hey, they got their weekend sales numbers!

Nowhere does article state they are having QC issues. Nor does yield issues automatically translate into QA/QC issues.

 

[michael31986]

Nowhere does article state they are having QC issues. Nor does yield issues automatically translate into QA/QC issues.

I thought same. I think article is just saying some are delayed in being made since parts are missing.

 

[tongxinshe]

What I don't understand is, every year, there's a rumor/news that mass production has started a month or so before the product is even announced. So, if that's the case, how could they not have enough to fulfill most of the preorders?

Cost reasons, mostly. The demand is 10-100 times higher at launch date, than that 5 months after and 10 months after. So, if they build enough factories to be able to produce enough units for launch date in just one month, 90% or more of those factories have to be closed for most of the year, which means a large increase in cost.

 

[Tech198]

oh man... again ?

Apple's supplies arn't have good luck here.

There doesn't have to be anything in related to QC yet.... U know it is based on what happened before. Besides, what else can it be ? it says "short supply" just like before.

 

[AleXXXa]

Expect a new gate.

Actually the S iphones have been pretty good so far. No antennagate on the 4s, no scuffgate on the 5s. I expect no bendgate on the 6s.

 

[Gregintosh]

Not sure if you can buy T-Mobile phones at the Apple Store with a T-Mobile payment plan. I was paying full price last year.

The conversation at Apple always goes one of two ways:

Tim: You mean to tell me that we won't have nearly enough come launch time?

Manufacturer: That's correct.

Tim: We're expecting to sell 10 million at launch, but it'll be fine if we only make 5 million by then. As long as they're sold we don't care if they actually exist or not. Customers can wait, we need those sales numbers high.

*OR*

Tim: We can produce more than enough to satisfy demand on launch day, but lets keep some at the warehouse to give the appearance of a huge demand. This makes everyone rush to order on the first day.

Take your pick, but either way, really shady practices on Apple's part.

It's more like this:

Apple: let's start production 2 months before launch. How many can we make?

Manufacturer: 5 million. Since it's a new device we have lots of quality control issues to sort out so we can't go that fast.

Apple: We need 10 million and then X million a month after that.

Manufacturer: well to do that we'd need to double our capacity, rent more floor space, and hire tons more people. And we'd have literally no use for any of it a month later. You wanna pay for all that equipment, real estate, etc hat will be idle the next 11 months?

Apple: Nah, let's go with the 5 million units and we will let people wait a few weeks. It's just a few days not a life or death situation.

Apple doesn't need any more hype and not having units available is a detriment to customer satisfaction. It's not an artificial constraint.

 

[pat500000]

Of course, Apple. I'll be waiting for 7, okay?

 

[SirCheese]

They don't produce anything, but the fact is that every one of the 3D touch screens produced are for Apple and Apple only, so I think it's safe to say they dictate quantities produced and quality standards, hence they are the de facto producers of the screen.

And you assume they are all for Apple....

 

[nia820]

Or Apple made an estimate of demand of how many people were going to buy the iPhone and asked its suppliers to produce exactly that many, give or take a few but for whatever reason, that number turned out to be too low. After all, it's only common sense that you don't make too much or too little of a product that you're trying to sell. If you have too little, then you lose revenue on people who can't get their widget. If you make too much, it costs money to keep the extras. But on second thought, it's much more fun to come up with asinine conspiracy theories of intentionally keeping supply low in order to create the illusion of strong demand.

Go ahead and keep your head in the sand. Companies do it all the time. It's not a far fetched theory.

 

[farmkittie]

As always, there're gonna be just 10 Rose Gold iPhone 6 Plus's per store on launch day.

So, get in line now!

That many? Usually there is 1 or 2.

 

[jakebrennan]

I have been tracking all the Apple Store worldwide ship dates for the iPhone 6s & 6s Plus here:

http://iphone-inventory.blogspot.com/2015/09/iphone-6s-pre-order-tracker.html

So far the iPhone 6s inventory seems to be holding up. Most configurations still available for pre-order and delivery on launch day, with the 128GB and rose gold models being the first to slide to 2-3 weeks in most countries.

A slightly different story with the larger 6s Plus models, which slipped to 3-4 week ship dates in China, followed quickly by all other launch countries.

 

[oftheheavens]

You can use T-Mobile EIP financing to buy iPhones at the Apple Store. That's how I bought my 6 Plus. They're unlocked out of the box too.

sorry I'm not sure what that means, I always just buy it in the cell phone store or best buy (when i had att). Can I just walk into apple and say i have tmobile and they will know what to do? Or do I have to go through tmobile first them go to apple with paperwork?

 

[CEmajr]

sorry I'm not sure what that means, I always just buy it in the cell phone store or best buy (when i had att). Can I just walk into apple and say i have tmobile and they will know what to do? Or do I have to go through tmobile first them go to apple with paperwork?

Yes you just walk into the Apple Store and tell them you're on T-Mobile and want to buy an iPhone using T-Mobile financing. Apple pulls up your T-Mobile account and handles all the EIP paperwork in store. No need to go through T-Mobile first.

 

[oftheheavens]

Yes you just walk into the Apple Store and tell them you're on T-Mobile and want to buy an iPhone using T-Mobile financing. Apple pulls up your T-Mobile account and handles all the EIP paperwork in store. No need to go through T-Mobile first.

Damn I wish I knew that on pre-order day, i would have scheduled an in store pick up time. Oh well I want the 128gb + so I can wait, I was waiting (kind of) to hear about the RAM anyways and now we have. Thanks for the replies

 

[vvswarup]

Go ahead and keep your head in the sand. Companies do it all the time. It's not a far fetched theory.

Examples?

 

[nia820]

Examples?

Samsung with the s6 edge. When the s6 edge first came out, Samsung was reporting a shortage. Especially with the gold color. They claimed that it was selling better than expected. But the truth was they didn't produce that many. The whole situation made it seem it was this hot ticket phone that everyone wanted and they couldn't keep up with try demand.

Now granted it is a nice phone which as why this my secondary. But s6 edge wasn't this hot ticketed phone that everyone was trying to get their grubbing paws on.

 

[vvswarup]

Samsung with the s6 edge. When the s6 edge first came out, Samsung was reporting a shortage. Especially with the gold color. They claimed that it was selling better than expected. But the truth was they didn't produce that many. The whole situation made it seem it was this hot ticket phone that everyone wanted and they couldn't keep up with try demand.

Now granted it is a nice phone which as why this my secondary. But s6 edge wasn't this hot ticketed phone that everyone was trying to get their grubbing paws on.

What do you mean by "didn't produce that many?" Define "many." Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Million? I read some of the stories about that and I don't see any evidence to the claim that Samsung produced a limited quantity of S6 edges with intent to give the illusion of strong demand. No company wants to have excess inventory sitting on the shelves. Just as easily as you conclude that Samsung deliberately produced too little product in order to create an illusion of strong demand, one can easily conclude that Samsung made an educated guess that turned out to be too low. Show me evidence of intent.

Consumers buy a particular product because they believe that it enhances their life in some way. If company A can't give them that product, they'll just go somewhere else and buy it. If company A is the only supplier of that product and the consumer can't get it, then the consumer's options are to either wait until it's available or find an alternative way to achieve that enhancement. If the market, i.e. collection of consumers demands 100 widgets from company A, how is company A supplying only 90 widgets going to result in the market demanding more than 100 widgets? Conversely, will the market demand only 90 widgets if company A supplies 110 widgets?