Lack of iP7 Plus - Why?

[xofruitcake]

i think google the topic before speculating is helpful on the delay... There seem to be 2 issues related to the delay Apple experienced in production of I7. The first one is the water proof speakers and the second one is the dual camera module in I7+. And then Apple shipment from China get caught by a Korean shipper, Hanjin, going BK and all their ships get seized at the port. Apple's shipping brokers has to pay money to the respective port authorities to get the cargo released (btw, Samsung get caught also and they said they have $38M worth of stuff get caught)..those are iPhone units produced way earlier in the year and meant for inventory for walk in sales and carrier inventory..

Sony was going to produce the dual camera modules and they have a damage in their production facilities back in Feb/March. And LG Innotex becomes the sole producer of the dual camera module in May. And LG is struggling to increase the production. The attached stories are back in April/May... So that is not news at all...

I laughed when one of the earlier post mentioned Job's era of production. It is a ridiculous comparison. That was the time that producing a few million unit of any thing by Apple was a big deal. And last year Apple sold 13 millions iPhones 6/6s in one weekend.. The logistics to produce and ship that many units are staggering. I don't know how can one compare the challenge of meeting demand with such a big difference in production run with a straight face...


http://blogs.barrons.com/asiastocks...xit-any-upside-left-to-the-dual-camera-story/

http://www.inquisitr.com/3458053/ap...-issues-affecting-the-new-dual-camera-module/

 

[Alssetna]

I laughed when one of the earlier post mentioned Job's era of production. It is a ridiculous comparison. That was the time that producing a few million unit of any thing by Apple was a big deal. And last year Apple sold 13 millions iPhones 6/6s in one weekend.. The logistics to produce and ship that many units are staggering. I don't know how can one compare the challenge of meeting demand with such a big difference in production run with a straight face...


http://blogs.barrons.com/asiastocks...xit-any-upside-left-to-the-dual-camera-story/

http://www.inquisitr.com/3458053/ap...-issues-affecting-the-new-dual-camera-module/[/QUOTE]

I agree with the huge logistical feat of gettin all these phones where they need to go. Apple isn't releasing their sales numbers this year. But two carriers said they had almost 4x the number of preorders they had in the past. I'm guessing there were close to 20 million preorders.

I wonder if they won't end up releasing in waves at some point. Plus models first, then regular. Or by color or something. At least I would like that, or some sort of transparency saying these phones won't ship until this date. (I know you get a date range when you order, but historically those have been given with a huge cushion. My 6 plus had an estimated delivery of October 2nd and arrived September 22nd, the Monday after launch.

 

[esteli]

yes, over a long period of time with huge discount. but on launch day, there are no line of people waiting and wanting Galaxy at the same time around the world.

very well said sir

 

[maxsix]

As I read a lot of discussions already I did not found any reason, why Apple is not able to fullfil orders and pre-orders.

So does any one know real reason for this epic fail?

They can, but they won't distribute more iPhones.

Apple knows exactly what they're doing, managing the illusion of "hard to get" which insures continued demand as they carefully meter out small quantities over an extended period.

Uber successful and wealthy, Apple doesn't have to set records by selling massive quantities. They've already convinced the gullibles "they're sold out".
[doublepost=1474846401][/doublepost]

I laughed when one of the earlier post mentioned Job's era of production. It is a ridiculous comparison. That was the time that producing a few million unit of any thing by Apple was a big deal. And last year Apple sold 13 millions iPhones 6/6s in one weekend.. The logistics to produce and ship that many units are staggering. I don't know how can one compare the challenge of meeting demand with such a big difference in production run with a straight face....

For Apple, managing millions and millions is easy. They didn't grow to this size overnight. They have the manpower and infrastructure in place. It's simply business as usual.

 

[Small White Car]

People do not understand just HOW MANY iPhones we're talking about here.

Last year the iPhone 6 sold 10 million phones in the first weekend. How does that compare to some other super-popular devices throughout history?

The ultra-popular Nintendo Wii took 7 months to reach that milestone.
The incredibly trendy Motorola Razr averaged 30 million sales per year.
The much-anticipated Playstation 2 took nearly a year to reach 10 million sales.

Those are some of the biggest success stories in the electroincs industry. They all struggled to meet demand. And we're talking about Apple doing the same amount of business in terms of weeks instead of years. And they do it every year, again and again. It's insane that they do as well as they do.

There are not enough factories in China, human workers avaialbe, or ships and trucks in existence to meet the crazy expectations of some MR posters.

 

[Bhs1975]

People do not understand just HOW MANY iPhones we're talking about here.

Last year the iPhone 6 sold 10 million phones in the first weekend. How does that compare to some other super-popular devices throughout history?

The ultra-popular Nintendo Wii took 7 months to reach that milestone.
The incredibly trendy Motorola Razr averaged 30 million sales per year.
The much-anticipated Playstation 2 took nearly a year to reach 10 million sales.

Those are some of the biggest success stories in the electroincs industry. They all struggled to meet demand. And we're talking about Apple doing the same amount of business in terms of weeks instead of years. And they do it every year, again and again. It's insane that they do as well as they do.

There are not enough factories in China, human workers avaialbe, or ships and trucks in existence to meet the crazy expectations of some MR posters.

Didn't they just hit one billion phones sold recently? That could probably reach to the moon and back if placed end to end.

 

[Ronnoco]

You were arguing that Apple jumped the gun and released the phone early. I'm saying no, because pre-orders and the announcement were at around the same time as they've done every year. You can't go by the date alone, you have to look at when it is in the month - second Friday in September, just like it's been dating back to the launch of the 5.

Seemed early to me, by at least a few days. Is is the earliest release since they moved it to later in the year. Anyway, nevertheless, it's also been one of the worst.

 

[TommyA6]

People do not understand just HOW MANY iPhones we're talking about here.

Last year the iPhone 6 sold 10 million phones in the first weekend. How does that compare to some other super-popular devices throughout history?

The ultra-popular Nintendo Wii took 7 months to reach that milestone.
The incredibly trendy Motorola Razr averaged 30 million sales per year.
The much-anticipated Playstation 2 took nearly a year to reach 10 million sales.

Those are some of the biggest success stories in the electroincs industry. They all struggled to meet demand. And we're talking about Apple doing the same amount of business in terms of weeks instead of years. And they do it every year, again and again. It's insane that they do as well as they do.

There are not enough factories in China, human workers avaialbe, or ships and trucks in existence to meet the crazy expectations of some MR posters.

All fine, but we're talking about countries getting exactly ZERO 7 Pluses. That has never happened before.

 

[Gathomblipoob]

Samsung sells more than Apple and they don't have supply issues.

That's because some of their supply is getting sent back to them this month.

Also, not all of Samsung's myriad models of phones are released at the same time.

 

[adamneer]

Along with what's already been mentioned (excluding the ridiculous artificial demand theory), my guess is that Apple, or rather their suppliers, do not operate at full capacity until the first wave of phones hit customers' hands. You can QC and beta test something all you want, but when your product is going to be used by 50 million people, you want to make sure you're not shipping 50 million units with a defect. In limiting initial production, it gives Apple time to react to real world issues their customers expose, which gives them the ability to make production line changes and minimize loss due to repair/replacement.

In terms of the Jet Black model, they have the additional un-knowable demand for an entirely new finish. Not only that, but I'm guessing they may be looking at how the finish wears while in the hands of their customers. I think it's possible there are additional steps they have planned in advance to make the gloss finish more durable, but if customer feedback doesn't warrant this need, they will continue to forgo these measures.

 

[bembol]

Ever since the iPhone 4S, I think it's just marketing.

 

[bibigon]

Isn't the simplest answer that they had production problems? Why does it need to be a conspiracy?

 

[Technarchy]

Samsung sells more than Apple and they don't have supply issues.

It's a fair point. It's not like Samsung is selling a small number of phones but you never see shortages or long turn around times like this.

 

[VSLRA]

All fine, but we're talking about countries getting exactly ZERO 7 Pluses. That has never happened before.

This is the reason why I started this topic. I know that there is always capacity issues at the beginning, so they are not able to cover the demand, but this year is different. It never happens, that there was ZERO pcs of 7+ for 2nd wave countries. Always there was some units, but this year it is confirmed, that there was 0 units, with unknown delivery date. And I´m not speaking about the walk in, I´m speaking about pre-orders.

As the Apple products in our country and also in Slovakia, are primary sold via Apple Premium Reseller, you do not have anything like date window, when you will get your phone. You just leave the money as deposit on the shop and you are waiting for call or update, therefore you do not know if you will wait 1 day, 1 week or 1 month. Sad story...

 

[akash.nu]

this is similar to bank and its cash. on typical day, a bank has enough cash for say 100 people withdrawals. if there is a news one day that spreads panic, thousand of people come to the bank and withdraw on the same day. there are not enough cash.

you might ask that apple anticipates this date, and it should make enough iphone for everyone. let's say there are 10 factories that can produce 100 thousands phone a day. this satisfies a typical day demand. but on launch day, the demand is say 1 million phones. This requires 100 factories. well, apple can build 100 factories needed for the launch day but after that, what do the other 90 factories do? sitting idle and costing them money for machinery and human resources.

you might ask that apple can make new iphone way ahead say 6 months ahead of the launch day. these new iphones sit there to wait for launch day, costing them ton of money for 6 months. not a good business.

we are just typical consumers, and we think making phone is so simple. but this is a every complex process involving hundreds of components from several hundred vendors. it takes alot to coordinate all of supply vendors, manufacturing, and logistic processes.

Very well said & written. Just fix the typos.

 

[TommyA6]

This is the reason why I started this topic. I know that there is always capacity issues at the beginning, so they are not able to cover the demand, but this year is different. It never happens, that there was ZERO pcs of 7+ for 2nd wave countries. Always there was some units, but this year it is confirmed, that there was 0 units, with unknown delivery date. And I´m not speaking about the walk in, I´m speaking about pre-orders.

As the Apple products in our country and also in Slovakia, are primary sold via Apple Premium Reseller, you do not have anything like date window, when you will get your phone. You just leave the money as deposit on the shop and you are waiting for call or update, therefore you do not know if you will wait 1 day, 1 week or 1 month. Sad story...

Same here in Croatia. Preordered on the 16th, still no expected delivery update -_-

 

[leesweet]

As another point, there is the new 'demand' from all the people in the IUP. These are 'guaranteed' sales that need to be created/allocated, since there is usually no point to being in the IUP unless you do actually want to upgrade each and every year.

This year had, shall we say, issues, and a good deal of inventory was re-allocated to the IUP upgrades from stores and perhaps other places at the last minute. (This is what we all surmise from what we've seen over the last several weeks.)

If Apple does allocate sufficient stock in production and produce enough units so IUP members can upgrade online properly the first night of preorders, perhaps there will be more in stores and more available for 'new' orders. Now, as was said above, special new parts that have restricted production will always be an issue for producing millions of units from zero for a new device.

 

[phillytim]

I'm positive that there was a recent news story about a freighter shipment that got held up, and that a huge influx of Plus models should hit the street starting October 8.

 

[leesweet]

I'm positive that there was a recent news story about a freighter shipment that got held up, and that a huge influx of Plus models should hit the street starting October 8.

There was also something about UPS having issues with some flights. All of the above together may have been a perfect storm.

 

[phillytim]

Interesting thing to note is that even Apple Stores only display the non-Plus 7 in Jet Black.

If they have troubles getting them, then that's a pretty stark tone for the chances of everyone.

 

[TrueBlou]

Samsung sells more than Apple and they don't have supply issues.

And across how many different models is that exactly?

Let's compare apples for apples at least. Samsung sold around 10 million S7 and S7 Edge combined on their first 3 weeks on sale. Compared to how many Apple are likely to sell of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in their first three weeks of sale things are a little different.

This situation is nothing new and nothing more than supply and demand. There's a limit to just how many they can push through the assembly lines at any one time.

 

[xofruitcake]

Seemed early to me, by at least a few days. Is is the earliest release since they moved it to later in the year. Anyway, nevertheless, it's also been one of the worst.

I think it help to step back and think about at what time did Cook give the go ahead on the launch date? It was back in Jan/Feb time frame that Apple need to make a firm decision on the launch date and the number of countries in the initial launch. This time they launch in 25 countries instead of 12 countries last year. And each of the carrier has to put in their initial order and Apple has to line up all the suppliers to deliver their parts to the right factory at the right time. There is very limit room they can change the production schedule once the ball start rolling. All the carriers involved need to figure out their ptomotion plan and whether their network can carry the surge that come with the launch (this year looks like Verizon and a couple of UK carriers have problem in keeping IPhone 7 on Lte). And all the ship logistic has to book at least a few months in advance. We can be flexible if we are cooking for ourselves. But if our task is to cook a meal for 10,000 folks for a given night, a lot of things that was suggested in this thread will not work at all.. E.g. There is no way to build I7 and not 7+, where are they going to do with all the parts and how are they going to explain to the customers who sign up for the 7+? A lot of carriers build their promotion around Apple's launch date, changing it can mean hundred of million of $ to Apple's partner and users like us will still be waiting.

 

[Ronnoco]

I think it help to step back and think about at what time did Cook give the go ahead on the launch date? It was back in Jan/Feb time frame that Apple need to make a firm decision on the launch date and the number of countries in the initial launch. This time they launch in 25 countries instead of 12 countries last year. And each of the carrier has to put in their initial order and Apple has to line up all the suppliers to deliver their parts to the right factory at the right time. There is very limit room they can change the production schedule once the ball start rolling. All the carriers involved need to figure out their ptomotion plan and whether their network can carry the surge that come with the launch (this year looks like Verizon and a couple of UK carriers have problem in keeping IPhone 7 on Lte). And all the ship logistic has to book at least a few months in advance. We can be flexible if we are cooking for ourselves. But if our task is to cook a meal for 10,000 folks for a given night, a lot of things that was suggested in this thread will not work at all.. E.g. There is no way to build I7 and not 7+, where are they going to do with all the parts and how are they going to explain to the customers who sign up for the 7+? A lot of carriers build their promotion around Apple's launch date, changing it can mean hundred of million of $ to Apple's partner and users like us will still be waiting.

I get some of that, but it is pretty clear that as soon as Apple decided it didn't want to face a class action suite by millions of disgruntled IUP members screwed out of upgrades on preorder night, they redirected inventory from carriers. That is when things took a serious turn for the worst. Btw, I actually had a AT&T supervisor tell me exactly that.

 

[akash.nu]

I get some of that, but it is pretty clear that as soon as Apple decided it didn't want to face a class action suite by millions of disgruntled IUP members screwed out of upgrades on preorder night, they redirected inventory from carriers. That is when things took a serious turn for the worst. Btw, I actually had a AT&T supervisor tell me exactly that.

With all due respect, I don't think l a mere supervisor will know exactly what's going on in the business at the top level.

 

[Ronnoco]

With all due respect, I don't think l a mere supervisor will know exactly what's going on in the business at the top level.

She was told this by her boss. Clearly CS supervisors were not happy about it, as it caused them 10's of thousands of extra customer service calls. I certainly can see a CS supervisor inquiring about what the hell is going on, and being frustrated when hearing "it's out of our control right now, Apple is calling the shots on inventory, and ours have been delayed". At least that is what I was told.