Kuo: iPhone 15 Pro Max Seeing 'Robust' Demand, Shipping Estimates Extending Into November

[Shirasaki]

The same old story every year - Apple never learns and never makes enough to meet demand to create a false sense of scarcity.

Not like they never learns, they refuse to learn.

Perhaps there are in fact limitations on even Apple’s ability to satisfy demand. They can’t just snap their fingers and create new raw materials. There are limits to everything.

While yes they can’t just magically summon new iPhones into customers hand, there is nothing stopping them from manufacturing a managed scarcity to hype up the news and stir its customer base. Typical sales tactic to me.
“Hey buy now or you will not get it before Christmas!”

This gets said every year with no evidence.

So what? No one can prove otherwise either.

Absolutely agree. The thing these conspiracy theorists don't understand is that limiting supply is just bad business. They want to sell as much product as soon as they can. Every second your product isn't available is a potential lost sale; a chance for someone to buy a less expensive model, the competitions product or nothing at all. There's no benefit, at all, to fake manufacturing limits.

It makes zero sense.

Limiting supply is NOT a bad business if subsequent resupply got cleared sooner than anticipated Due to FOMO or just can’t wait to play with brand new gadgets (Or anything for that matter). Also, Apple is in their unique position to not worry about losing sales due to limited supply because most people when they upgrade, they upgrade from old iPhone to new iPhone, whichever it is. If they can’t buy today they will likely buy later.

Call this calculated risk. And remember, even for less expensive model, they still earn a lot. All in all, Apple has nothing to lose in this scarcity and everything to gain. I don’t see this scenario change anytime soon.

Now, if Apple just intentionally refuse to sell their iPhone for no reason and let stock sitting in the warehouse for months with no movement, THAT I can see a bad business.

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

I was addressing the part about Apple not making (ordering) enough to meet demand, not the part about creating a false sense of scarcity.

Weird that you were addressing my comment which was referring to the “false scarcity” claim. But, whatever.

 

[KPOM]

I highly suspect Apple is "releasing" some rumours amongst certain employees to track sources of leaked information. I don't think the "Ultra" is an actual product, but if it is, I see it replacing the Pro Max and maybe leaving the regular sized Pro.

You may be right. There have been a lot of rumor “misses” this year. Though they can overdo it. At some point potential leakers can just claim they made up details just to get tech reporters off their backs. For instance, it was unrealistic to expect a thunderbolt port in a phone.

 

[KPOM]

Weird that you were addressing my comment which was referring to the “false scarcity” claim. But, whatever.

I seriously doubt Apple creates false scarcity with the iPhone. It’s a mass market product. It isn’t as if the Pro Max is a limited edition like a Nike Air Jordan. But there are supply chain limitations (hence the reason the non-Pro models don’t use the latest chips) and annual changes in the mix. Some years the Max might sell comparatively better than the regular Pro and other years may be different, particularly at launch.

 

[GuruZac]

While yes they can’t just magically summon new iPhones into customers hand, there is nothing stopping them from manufacturing a managed scarcity to hype up the news and stir its customer base. Typical sales tactic to me.
“Hey buy now or you will not get it before Christmas!”

Ok, but the burden of proof is on all of those who keep claiming Apple is deliberately creating shortages. Kind of hard to be outraged without proof, and since the claims continue to be made that Apple is purposely keeping iPhone production limited, I say, maybe, but show me the proof.

Furthermore, the iPhone Pros aren’t Ferraris, or exotic collectible items. They are a mass produced product nearly as common as a Toyota.

 

[rp2011]

Gorgeous phone. Apple's design team has mastered high-end consumer product design. We have come a long way from design atrocities like the iPhone 6 and 6s. By far the ugliest and cheapest-looking iPhones to date. The 6 series looked chintzier and lower-end than the plastic iPhones.

 

[KPOM]

Gorgeous phone. Apple's design team has mastered high-end consumer product design. We have come a long way from design atrocities like the iPhone 6 and 6s. By far the ugliest and cheapest-looking iPhones to date. The 6 series looked chintzier and lower-end than the plastic iPhones.

Those were the first “big” iPhones. As I recall the ultra rounded designs were in part to make the phone feel smaller in the hand than they really were.

 

[Rogue AI]

Kuo is such a mark.

 

[HDFan]

The same old story every year - Apple never learns and never makes enough to meet demand to create a false sense of scarcity.

You can't manufacture millions of phones at a drop of a hat. You need expensive manufacturing lines. If they had enough capacity for immediate delivery at launch time those expensive lines within a few months would be idle. That idle capacity would increase the cost of the phones. It is a balance. They manufacture as many as they can before launch and size the lines with a delay period which makes sense for both the customer and their costs. But they do have to guess and sometimes they don't have enough capacity, or sometimes too much.

You also have to remember iphones don't fly anymore. They're shipped on a ship.

You're being sarcastic, right?

 

[MuppetGate]

The same old story every year - Apple never learns and never makes enough to meet demand to create a false sense of scarcity.

No company does that, not even Samsung.

At the end of a day, shortages mean lost sales and less revenue.

 

[Tovenaar]

I just cancelled my iPhone 15 Pro Max order. You're welcome everyone! 😆

 

[PantherKang]

I just cancelled my iPhone 15 Pro Max order. You're welcome everyone! 😆

Have a sunny week.😂😂

 

[kingtj1971]

Pre-orders were manic this year! App crashed a few times and I was able to get a release day delivery but then my payment randomly got declined! By the time I got another order through it had slipped to October 2nd - 9th. Never mind, not too long to wait. Giving my 14 Pro Max to family.

Yeah.... It was a terrible buying experience for me as well. I signed in right at 5AM PST only to get 2 minutes or so of a message saying they were "tying up a few loose ends" so the store still wasn't quite online yet. Then, it finally refreshed and came online and showed my pre-order I'd done several days earlier. Great, but as soon as I reviewed it and tapped to place the order, I got a "timed out" error and it seemed to lose my entire pre-order.

Then, the whole store crashed when I tried to exit out and get back in.

I decided, at that point, to just try to redo my whole order from scratch, and to my surprise, it let me get through all of those choices without crashing again. I decided not to bother with the Apple Card financing after all, and to just pay for it up front so I could get a carrier unlocked phone. Then, it kept timing out on the last step to pay for it!

I gave up for 10 minutes or so, really thinking it was probably a sign not to buy this phone after all and to just keep going with my 13 Pro. But I really wanted to hand this down to my daughter who has an XR that's barely hanging on (cracks in the screen and a battery that's not charging past 79% or so). So gave it one last try, and after maybe 10 times in a row, got the order to complete.

This has been similar to my experience using their store on launch days in the past, so Apple really should know what the load is at this point and do a better job hosting everything. I'm convinced they do this on purpose because orders still flow in at a pace they're happy seeing, and all the issues make people more frantic to compete to buy one.

 

[svish]

More Pro Max models might be selling this year due to the increased zoom. Expecting production to increase and delivery dates to move up

 

[Zest28]

I just cancelled my iPhone 15 Pro Max order. You're welcome everyone! 😆

I think I'm going to wait for the iPhone 16 Pro Max instead and just keep using my current iPhone. Not going to wait 2 months.

 

[zonai]

They have to make predictions about how many phones to make months ahead of time and then get the relevant parts from each supplier. Last year 14 Pro Max was very hard to find after release. If they weren’t limited by supply issues then they would probably have enough to meet demand. Like if you want a regular 15 it’s still available for Sep 22 in stores or through shipping.

 

[Tovenaar]

I think I'm going to wait for the iPhone 16 Pro Max instead and just keep using my current iPhone. Not going to wait 2 months.

I have an iPhone 11 Pro Max. Every year I think this is the year I'm going to upgrade. This year I thought for sure this will be it and I pre-ordered on launch day.

Then when the reality distortion field wore off I realized that not much has really changed and that my phone is actually still an excellent phone.

 

[SouthBronx187]

stop wasting resources on non-pro max models

 

[JippaLippa]

Very cool design this year!
It's tradition for me to get my iPhones white, but I have to say that natural titanium looks very sexy.

 

[spincut]

12

Curious, what about the 12 was so significant? Heck, I own it, I just recall the previous year/11 being somewhat similar beyond some 5g and high def camera improvements.

 

[Sebalto]

For the first time I've ordered a Pro Max, though I must confess to having some apprehension about the order as someone who's always elected to pickup the smaller line.

Im in the same boat. Been using 2016 SE so will be a huge leap

 

[brianrhill]

I’ve yet to buy a Pro Max. That size seems just a little too wide. The current Pro size of 6.1” is a good enough fit that I don’t have issues getting it into the same front pants pocket that I keep my wallet in. My keys, work cell and chap stick are in the other front pocket. I’m 6’1” tall, 215 lbs and wear 34x32 or 36x32 pants depending on style and fit.

I think I’d like the Pro Max but I’m nervous it won’t fit into my front pants pocket given the size I wear? Do those with the Pro Max around my size keep it comfortably in their front pants pocket? Is it the only thing you keep in the pocket it’s in? I keep my wallet in that same pocket as well. It isn’t huge but it’s a bifold with a decent number of cards in it. Debit and credit cards, a couple of rewards cards, health insurance and prescription insurance cards, my license, a copy of my registration and car insurance, voter registration card (just in case) and two small USB thumb drives.

If I knew I could still get a wallet and the Pro Max in my pocket I’d go for it. I’d even be willing to have both my work cell and iPhone Pro Max in that pocket if the wallet is to big or perhaps downsize the wallet since I rarely use some of what I keep in the wallet. My work phone is an Android that is slightly smaller than my iPhone Pro.

If there are others my size who can get a Pro Max and a wallet or another phone in their same front pants pocket perhaps I’ll try the Max in the future though I hear the 16 is due to have larger screens on both the Pro and Pro Max models.

Macaholic, I am pretty sure that you are asking too much to get a Pro Max and a wallet into a front pants pocket unless you can pare down to a little MagSafe credit
card wallet. At present, I devote one front pocket to my wallet and the other to the 6.5" 11 Pro Max in an Apple case. My keys have to go in a back pocket. I am on a roughly three-year upgrade cycle and I will get the 6.7" 15 Pro Max in the first wave of shipments, but the Bullstrap leather case I ordered for it is weeks out from shipping, so I won't have experience with the overall bulk in the front pocket for many weeks to
come. I am not worried about the 6.7" 15 Pro Max fitting into my front pocket, but the 16 Pro Max is rumored to be 6.9" and that might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. In any case, I won't even start deciding about what comes after the 15 Pro Max until 2026. One tip I can offer — so good you can thank me later — Levi's quality dropped so badly in the last 10-15 years that I switched to Revtown about two years ago and never looked back. I am 6'0" 170# 33"x32" and the Revtown pockets are without a doubt more roomy and better constructed than Levi's.

 

[TracerAnalog]

The same old story every year - Apple never learns and never makes enough to meet demand to create a false sense of scarcity.

Yeah, as if Apple doesn’t want to sell all they can. Scarcity rarely creates demand, it only increases prices for those that have to have it right now and buy them of Ebay.

iPhones are not collectables.

 

[BabaBooey23]

I just cancelled my iPhone 15 Pro Max order. You're welcome everyone! 😆

I’m hoping there’s enough people out there like you that do this and I’m also hoping people that have pre-orders try to go into the store on launch day to try and get one there and then cancel their pre-orders so hopefully my shipping date gets moved up by a couple weeks.

 

[anthony13]

Determine factor for me wasn’t the camera. It was the lighter weight. The 14 pro max is a boat anchor.