iPhone 7 Facing Supply Shortages as Production Ramps Up Ahead of Launch

[Johnny907]

Water-resistance. Flush Home button. Dual-cameras. A monster of a chip. Possible wireless "AirPods". Possible screen resolution bump. True-Tone and Wide Gamut display. Quite a big bump in battery capacity (more so than previous years). New iPhone colour. Dual speakers. Regardless of what everyone things it's a new design. New materials etc.

Just because it looks similar, doesn't mean it will be similar.

Don't expect "innovation" every year. It's not going to happen.

If nothing excites you from that list, switch to Android but you'll be coming back next year when they release the iPhone 8 so...

The 6S is already water resistant
Flush Home Button? Making the home button harder to find without looking is a "feature" now?
Dual Cameras = Gimmick which has been proven by other makers who have implemented it
Monster of a Chip, because any app out there has yet to come close to stressing the A8, let alone the 9 or 10
Possible wireless Airpods, that will just as well on every iPhone at least as far back as the 5S
Possible screen resolution bump? No. Zero evidence of this anywhere in iOS 10, zero rumors about it
TruTone and WG display? Maybe but probably not. No rumors, no evidence
Big Bump in battery capacity? Best case scenario we are looking at an increase of one hour, hardly "big." My 6S already lasts all day with only occasionally plugging it into my car while driving.
New color. Ok? I'm sure the 2017 iPhone will also be available in that new color as well.
Dual speakers, maybe. There's just as much evidence pointing to no dual speakers, so it could go either way.
Don't expect "innovation" every year. I'm sorry, what? Maybe this is the case with Tim Cook's Apple, but it certainly wasn't with Steve Jobs's Apple. This is not something Apple supporters should be ok with, let alone making snarky excuses for.
Finally, "switch to Android?" Why would I "switch to Android" when I just said I was perfectly happy with my 6S? I'm sure the Note 7 is a fine phone, but I have no interest in buying all of my apps all over again for a different ecosystem when I'll more than likely be upgrading to the 2017 iPhone in a year.

 

[doelcm82]

I get why they are there. But there must be a better way. Maybe it is time to leave aluminum behind and move on to something else.

Maybe next year. But it's way too early for rumors about next year's iPhone, so that's just a wild guess.

 

[rjtyork]

I have the 6+ and I'll be buying a 6S+ if they remove the headphone jack and leave out wireless charging and water proofing. Those are the only 2 things that will convince me to give up my headphone jack. I want to be able to listen to music and charge my phone. Can't do that with the 7? I'm going with a 6S+.

 

[doelcm82]

Dual Cameras = Gimmick which has been proven by other makers who have implemented it

This gimmick is my main reason for upgrading to this year's iPhone.

If it gets me better pictures and better low-light performance, I'll take the gimmick all day long.

Fingerprint readers were also a gimmick before iPhone. Now I wouldn't want to do without one.

 

[SMIDG3T]

The 6S is already water resistant
Sorry, even more so. It'll be rated IP86.

Flush Home Button? Making the home button harder to find without looking is a "feature" now?
Could be. Who knows what they'll do with it? You could "press" normally to do one thing and harder to do something else.

Dual Cameras = Gimmick which has been proven by other makers who have implemented it
It won't be a gimmick. They'll produce better low-light pictures and you'll be able to zoom in while retaining the same quality. Gimmick? Sure.

Monster of a Chip, because any app out there has yet to come close to stressing the A8, let alone the 9 or 10
This year the A10 chip will focus on efficiency rather than performance.

Possible wireless Airpods, that will just as well on every iPhone at least as far back as the 5S
What? The were supposed to be released in 2014 but obviously didn't go ahead, there's a chance we'll see them this year and they've been working on a custom Bluetooth chip for longer battery life. There will also be no wires, at all.

Possible screen resolution bump? No. Zero evidence of this anywhere in iOS 10, zero rumors about it
Who said they've already added to the code in iOS 10? They wouldn't let anyone know until the iPhone 7 was unveiled.

TruTone and WG display? Maybe but probably not. No rumors, no evidence
Here's just one article: http://appleinsider.com/articles/16...ples-next-retina-display-frontier-wide-color- Google it, there's evidence. The True-Tone display is already on iPad's, why wouldn't they add it to the iPhone?

Big Bump in battery capacity? Best case scenario we are looking at an increase of one hour, hardly "big." My 6S already lasts all day with only occasionally plugging it into my car while driving.
60-90 minutes could make a massive different to some users, a big enough increase that it'll easily last a day with heavy usage.

New color. Ok? I'm sure the 2017 iPhone will also be available in that new color as well.
A black iPhone would look amazing...

Dual speakers, maybe. There's just as much evidence pointing to no dual speakers, so it could go either way.
Meh, not big I admit but it's better than one.

Don't expect "innovation" every year. I'm sorry, what? Maybe this is the case with Tim Cook's Apple, but it certainly wasn't with Steve Jobs's Apple. This is not something Apple supporters should be ok with, let alone making snarky excuses for.
I'm laughing inside, there's only so much you can do with a smartphone. We've come a LONG way, I'll say it again as it didn't seem to sink in, don't expect innovation every single year.

Finally, "switch to Android?" Why would I "switch to Android" when I just said I was perfectly happy with my 6S? I'm sure the Note 7 is a fine phone, but I have no interest in buying all of my apps all over again for a different ecosystem when I'll more than likely be upgrading to the 2017 iPhone in a year.
Well, there you are...

See above. My posts in bold.

 

[doelcm82]

What is the big feature? It's the new iphone and 99% of buyers aren't forum dwelling nerds (myself included) following apple products 1+ years out.

Consumers will buy because it's better and their upgrade is due, simple as that.

I'm a forum dwelling nerd, and I will be upgrading this year as well. I guess I'm also a consumer.

 

[SMIDG3T]

You have one job, Apple.... One job.

They have 1000 jobs...

 

[mdelvecchio]

If there's a supply shortage, Apple can tout, "We've seen incredible demand for iPhone 7. So much demand that we can't even keep up" while the shipping time on the online store page reads "Ships in 2-3 weeks."

Which.... Is what tends to happen to some extent every year.

if you're suggesting its a conspiracy so they can make few and claim high demand, thats bunk. apple would very much prefer to *sell* you a device than to tout that they can't. because, profit. they make their money from selling actual devices, not from saying demand is high.

that being said, you can only pre-make so many devices. and demand for apple devices is unlike any other in the entire industry. nice problem to have.

 

[Cineplex]

if you're suggesting its a conspiracy so they can make few and claim high demand, thats bunk. apple would very much prefer to *sell* you a device than to tout that they can't. because, profit. they make their money from selling actual devices, not from saying demand is high.

that being said, you can only pre-make so many devices. and demand for apple devices is unlike any other in the entire industry. nice problem to have.

True, but Apple also makes its money by not over producing inventory. Keeping the production volume at low level keeps profits high and demand strong. If they don't over produce, they don't saturate the market. They don't saturate the market, they keep the price stable. Part of supply chain management is keeping the products flowing steady and not building up warehouses of overstock. Timmy is very good at this. But I can say without a doubt that the shortage is intentional. Maybe not to claim high demand...but to prevent storing the product and over producing. The high demand is just a nice side effect.

 

[iamayellowbanana]

This same story comes out every fall. It's designed to play on people's emotions about Apple. In addition, they already are building the new iPhones with iOS 10 on them. And they are still releasing beta software looking for bugs that Apple deliberately coded in for their beta testing program. They probably already have many completed units in sealed factory boxes ready to sell today if they wanted to.

 

[macduke]

Heh..right
If you have it, you will fill it!
I want the 256 too! I'm going to load all my movies and tv shows on...and wipe them off the MacBooks drive!
Sweet!

Your avatar is a unexpectedly creepy. Good work.

In the past I used a lot more, but then I got iCloud Drive 200GB. The storage announcement I'm personally hoping for most next month is an increase in iCloud Storage. They used to have an option of 500GB for $4.99/mo. Now you have to go straight from 200GB for $2.99/mo straight up to 1TB for $9.99/mo. Kinda drastic to spend 3.3 times as much. I'm using a lot more space now because of the 4K videos on the 6s. I might wait to get the 256GB size in the rumored special edition 2017 iPhone. I wish iOS let you easily switch between 1080p and 4K using a toggle in the Camera app. But I'm kind of a resolution whore. I care even more since we started having kids a couple years ago, and thought about how I should record as high as possible for archival reasons. I'd even settle for a setting to select what range of photos and videos I want to keep in the cloud, and what range I want to keep locally on my device. But Apple would never make it that complex. This would also mean I'd have to do a bunch of manual backups for all my recent content.

 

[DJC631]

No way in hell I'm buying headphones that only work on an iOS device. They can keep the 7.

 

[Sharkey311]

Honestly, I'm beginning to be scared for Apple. So far, nothing other than speed (which, although important is overlooked by many everyday customs) to make the iPhone 7 catch up to the marvelous Note 7. As a creative (as in designer and writer) already owning a desktop powerhouse, I'd love to love the iPad pro but the wrong software and questionable design compromises (or lack there of) make me despise it. Microsoft nailed it with the Surface pro 4 and Surface 3 as those laptop first devices keep on getting better tablets with every update. The apple watch is a joke at this point. The new MacBook is magnificent to behold but much less to own (as in one port and lack of power). The new MacBook can be great but the Surface Book 2 will probably blow it out of the water. The iMac is way overpriced if you want a gpu (who doesn't) and a lot of the Mac Os seems almost abandoned (like the Mac App Store). The Apple TV knows no competition though, except maybe from the modern consoles. In short, I no longer feel Apple's extraordinary vision and I'm turning towards other greener pastures... at this point only Keynote keeps me using Mac Os!

Cool story, Hansel.

 

[Dirtydutch]

Honestly, I'm beginning to be scared for Apple. So far, nothing other than speed (which, although important is overlooked by many everyday customs) to make the iPhone 7 catch up to the marvelous Note 7. As a creative (as in designer and writer) already owning a desktop powerhouse, I'd love to love the iPad pro but the wrong software and questionable design compromises (or lack there of) make me despise it. Microsoft nailed it with the Surface pro 4 and Surface 3 as those laptop first devices keep on getting better tablets with every update. The apple watch is a joke at this point. The new MacBook is magnificent to behold but much less to own (as in one port and lack of power). The new MacBook can be great but the Surface Book 2 will probably blow it out of the water. The iMac is way overpriced if you want a gpu (who doesn't) and a lot of the Mac Os seems almost abandoned (like the Mac App Store). The Apple TV knows no competition though, except maybe from the modern consoles. In short, I no longer feel Apple's extraordinary vision and I'm turning towards other greener pastures... at this point only Keynote keeps me using Mac Os!

Wait, catch up to the note 7? Maybe they'll catch up to the note 7 when the note 7 catches up to the year old 6s lolol

 

[Fatboy71]

Hardly news is it. The same thing is said every year. The new iPhone's sell out on launch day and then there is usually a 10-14 day wait for the next lot of stock.

 

[The Game 161]

Duel camera is a gimmick? If Having a great camera is a gimmick then everything on a phone is a gimmick

 

[bbbb4b]

How is that even possible it's the exact same phone as the 6s!

Same way it was with the iPhone SE. Sucker was backlogged for EVER. And that was just a snapped up iP5. Whole design format had been ramped-up for years. Yet, still...
[doublepost=1472243471][/doublepost]

You've just realized Apple's secret to great marketing: supply constraints = higher demand. Apple has done this for years. New stuff comes out all the time from various companies, but when it comes out from Apple and everyone wants it but can't get their hands on it, then they want it even more. And the folks who didn't want it now all of sudden find themselves gravitating towards it a little bit.

Nope. That is WAY too obvious, and way too cheesy for Apple. EVERYBODY would see right through such a mundane, simpleminded ploy.
Apple is just, quite plainly, screwing **** up. It's been getting worse year after year. And it's costing them.

 

[jdclifford]

Wishful thinking perhaps.

Hey TC I'm calling BS. You can't have a shortage for a product nobody wants unless you aren't making many to begin with. What happens next year? A 3 mos wait?

P.S. Quit crying wolf! Your street cred is diminishing rapidly.

 

[doelcm82]

You have one job, Apple.... One job.

And millions of people who mistakenly think they know what that one job is

 

[Glideslope]

Looks fairly straight forward to me. Lower anticipated sales. Pressure to maintain Tim's Margins (shareholders again.) Suppliers pressured VENOMOUSLY to lower costs. Perhaps some "Not so high quality" components?
Tim may be repeating the rewards of getting what you pay for. Or not.

 

[Arminnn89]

trust me even that amount of iphone 7 with similar design will be considerably over stock

 

[nope7308]

Whatever you think about the iPhone 7, I'm fairly confident this is a marketing gimmick meant to suggest strong consumer demand. It happens every cycle, and surely Apple would know how to predict demand and meet it accordingly, at least with the frequency of these "supply shortages".

 

[macfacts]

It's actually not a cultural practice, but more of a financial tactic called "fomenting." These "analysts" are the ones spewing out this BS in collaboration with someone in a Wall Street investment firm so they can manipulate the stock market price.

http://iphone.appleinsider.com/articles/09/03/13/jon_stewart_exposes_apple_stock_manipulation

Listen for yourself starting at 3:35.

Ever hear of the boy who cried wolf? It's investors fault if they keep listening to the same analysts year after year.

 

[BeyondtheTech]

Ever hear of the boy who cried wolf? It's investors fault if they keep listening to the same analysts year after year.

Perhaps you don't realize the analyst and the investor are in cahoots together to short the stock so they can turn a quick profit. It's a typical Wall Street maneuver. Watch again.

 

[MH01]

Same old Story every year....... Almost like markerting now.....quick get one cause there is a shortage....