Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Poll: Apple intentionally under-estimated launch supplies to drive more iPhone X demand

  • No, supply is extremely tight and Apple provided the best estimates they could.

    Votes: 40 33.9%
  • Yes, Apple intentionally made supplies appear more constrained than they really are to drive demand

    Votes: 45 38.1%
  • Other - Apple thought supply would be tight but it improved in last week.

    Votes: 33 28.0%

  • Total voters
    118
  • Poll closed .

jmpage2

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Poll: Apple intentionally under-estimated launch supplies to drive more iPhone X demand?
 
Apple didn't intentionally do anything like you describe. The supply chain "experts" who are the source of many rumors got it embarrassingly wrong.

Initial Apple pre-order ship estimates of November 17-24th changing to November 3rd delivery don't have anything to do with supply chain expert predictions. It has to do with Apple predictions.
 
Actually the "low supplies news" never came from Apple as far as I know.
Only from "trusted resources and experts".
It is true though that Apple encouraged to get early to the stores to get a phone (but that was the same with previous launches before, too).
 
Initial Apple pre-order ship estimates of November 17-24th changing to November 3rd delivery don't have anything to do with supply chain expert predictions. It has to do with Apple predictions.

Apple erred on the side of caution with estimated ship dates to avoid disappointing people. But it is very clear Apple has done a great job and the chronic shortages predicted by the rumor mongers was wrong.
 
Apple erred on the side of caution with estimated ship dates to avoid disappointing people. But it is very clear Apple has done a great job and the chronic shortages predicted by the rumor mongers was wrong.

There do appear to be shortages of some models. Verizon models are in fairly short supply due to scalpers. Additionally they are still showing 3-4 week delays for all models if they are reserved online today.

If I was a conspiracy nut I would think Apple has been trying to come up with ways to crush scalpers by claiming short supply and then leaving scalpers holding the bag. Nahhhh, that would never happen.
 
I just got back from the WTC store in NYC to pickup my reservation around 11:30am. I was chatting with an employee and they said right now there are still 300+ people waiting for walk-ins at the store and they have not sold out of any SKUs yet.

It seems there is decent walk-in supply but then again I'm sure NYC stores are stocked a bit more and we have quite a few NYC stores here to choose from.
 
There do appear to be shortages of some models. Verizon models are in fairly short supply due to scalpers. Additionally they are still showing 3-4 week delays for all models if they are reserved online today.

If I was a conspiracy nut I would think Apple has been trying to come up with ways to crush scalpers by claiming short supply and then leaving scalpers holding the bag. Nahhhh, that would never happen.

Carrier stores had extremely limited supplies, supplies are low.
 
There do appear to be shortages of some models. Verizon models are in fairly short supply due to scalpers. Additionally they are still showing 3-4 week delays for all models if they are reserved online today.

Yes but this always happens with a new product launch. What the "experts" predicted was you'd be waiting until 2018 to get your iPhone if you didn't order within the first ten minutes. I even believed them, but I'm glad they were wrong. I want as many people as possible to experience the perfection that is iPhone X as quickly as possible.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jimpilot
Yes but this always happens with a new product launch. What the "experts" predicted was you'd be waiting until 2018 to get your iPhone if you didn't order within the first ten minutes. I even believed them, but I'm glad they were wrong. I want as many people as possible to experience the perfection that is iPhone X as quickly as possible.

That is partially true.

Supply was not low with iPhone 7 or with iPhone 8, in most configurations that I am aware of.
 
Initial Apple pre-order ship estimates of November 17-24th changing to November 3rd delivery don't have anything to do with supply chain expert predictions. It has to do with Apple predictions.
It can easily have to do with people who placed orders that were then cancelled for some reason, such as bad payment info, fraud, the people just changed their minds, etc... that would free up stock.

It makes no sense for a capitalist company to try to restrict supply if there's a huge demand.
 
I don't think Apple was the main issue. I think a lot of people on social media assumed supply wouldn't catch up to demand until 2018 and everyone started freaking out about it.
 
2 extremes:

1) Naive: believes anything positive. Glass half full.
2) Suspicious: sees conspiracies everywhere. Glass half empty
 
What good is a poll like this? We know absolutely nothing about what happens behind the scenes at Apple.

Gee, I don't know, because it's fun to speculate on an Internet forum?

Or maybe that for weeks we were reading that supplies over the launch weekend were going to be abysmal but we're now finding out that shipping estimates are improving and that many models are still available hours after launch at retail?

Maybe for trying to understand why things like that happen?

Maybe I have nothing better to do?
 
Poll: Apple intentionally under-estimated launch supplies to drive more iPhone X demand?

Apple has ben telling us the whole time that production is getting better and better so I do not see a big conspiracy here.

I still consider supplies to be very low.
 
Last edited:
If Apple actually did what you're suggesting, it's a poor business move.

I had my own reasons for not ordering the iPhone X, and one of them was the purported lack of supply. I wanted the 8 Plus anyway, but not knowing when I'd actually be able to get an iPhone X played a role. I'm certain there are plenty of people who didn't order one because they had no idea when they'd actually receive it.
 
If Apple actually did what you're suggesting, it's a poor business move.

I had my own reasons for not ordering the iPhone X, and one of them was the purported lack of supply. I wanted the 8 Plus anyway, but not knowing when I'd actually be able to get an iPhone X played a role. I'm certain there are plenty of people who didn't order one because they had no idea when they'd actually receive it.

I'm not suggesting anything, I'm pointing out it is a possibility because it is.

For full disclosure my vote is that supplies are in fact still very tight... which is why there is still a 3-4 week ship time from today.

However there are literally hundreds if not thousands of post in this forum and elsewhere that insist that Apple was trying to intentionally dupe the public into believing the iPhone X would be harder to get than it would be.
 
Shipping quotes on Apple's website went down to 3-4 weeks from the earlier 5-6 weeks, and I called up my local Apple Stores and all but one (out of 6) said there was plenty of stock of all sizes and colors.
 
Shipping quotes on Apple's website went down to 3-4 weeks from the earlier 5-6 weeks, and I called up my local Apple Stores and all but one (out of 6) said there was plenty of stock of all sizes and colors. This was def Apple playing the market lol.

You and one of the other guys need to fight about it now as it would be most entertaining.
[doublepost=1509727869][/doublepost]
Which is why I voted for the third one. No Conspiracy!

Still think supplies are still very low.

I think we will know by the end of the day.

If most retail stores are completely out before the end of the day it is a good indicator that they are still in very tight supply.

For iPhone 8 launch there were models available throughout the launch weekend all over the place.
 
4. Apple didn’t say a damn thing other than “supply will be constrained” (obviously true) and it was “analysts” who came up with (made up) these nightmare scenarios of people ordering on 10/27 for delivery in 2018...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jimpilot
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.