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Other So, why did Apple decide to shoot themselves in the foot by delaying iPhone 12 Pro Max preorders?

sniffies

sniffies

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Jul 31, 2005
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Wouldn't it be smarter to delay the entire lineup preorders until today so that those who "reluctantly upgraded to 12 Pro but originally wanted 12 Pro Max but didn't want to wait" could actually get the phone they wanted? That's potentially a loss of $100 per unit sold.

And now, a whole 9 hours later, there are STILL some 12 Pro Max's available for launch day delivery. Quite shocking and not good.
 
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Ain’t nobody got money to be wasting no more on these small upgrades every year . Oh it’s faster the cameras are so much better blah blah . Now with that being said I have a 11pro max thinking about upgrading to a 12pro max solely on the new Qualcomm modem.
 
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sniffies said:
Wouldn't it be smarter to delay the entire lineup preorders until today so that those who "reluctantly upgraded to 12 Pro but originally wanted 12 Pro Max but didn't want to wait" could actually get the phone they wanted? That's potentially a loss of $100 per unit sold.

And now, a whole 9 hours later, there are STILL some 12 Pro Max's available for launch day delivery. Quite shocking and not good.
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Idk, I didn’t mind waiting the extra few weeks. I knew from the start that I wouldn’t settle for less than the Pro Max. Why would I “settle“ for a device that I know I would never be really happy with? Maybe if I was 16, a few weeks of waiting would seem like a lifetime, but at my age, time goes by way too fast (although now that I’ve ordered, the weeklong wait will seem like an eternity, like a kid waiting for Christmas).
 
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Ram65 said:
Ain’t nobody got money to be wasting no more on these small upgrades every year . Oh it’s faster the cameras are so much better blah blah . Now with that being said I have a 11pro max thinking about upgrading to a 12pro max solely on the new Qualcomm modem.
Click to expand...
You should wait then.
Next years phone will have the better Qualcomm modem.
 
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I was set to finalize my 12 PM order this morning but just couldn’t justify the expense this year.
It’s been tight with the Pandemic this year.
My 11PM is fine for right now. I would have to buy a case screen protectors etc. I’ll just wait till later in 2021 or for a potential iPhone 13.
 
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For the 4 different models that were released, it was a good idea to space them apart so that the Chinese workers, freight loaders, airplanes, carrier customer service staff and UPS delivery folks don't get overwhelmed.

Apple probably chose to do this to avoid mixups, screwups, messups...
 
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i was one of those who bought the 12 pro as i was tired of the 11 PM size and thought a smaller size would work better for me but turns out i was wrong and missing that size so i ended up paying the 550$ early upgrade fee as i was out of time to return and pre ordered the pro max
 
sniffies said:
Wouldn't it be smarter to delay the entire lineup preorders until today so that those who "reluctantly upgraded to 12 Pro but originally wanted 12 Pro Max but didn't want to wait" could actually get the phone they wanted? That's potentially a loss of $100 per unit sold.

And now, a whole 9 hours later, there are STILL some 12 Pro Max's available for launch day delivery. Quite shocking and not good.
Click to expand...
Perhaps Apple was worried that the delay would have led to some consumers switching to other alternatives. Earning less per iPhone sold is better than losing the entire sale altogether.
 
sniffies said:
Wouldn't it be smarter to delay the entire lineup preorders until today so that those who "reluctantly upgraded to 12 Pro but originally wanted 12 Pro Max but didn't want to wait" could actually get the phone they wanted? That's potentially a loss of $100 per unit sold.
Click to expand...

Heck no, that would be a terrible idea in terms of revenue. Delay all iPhone 12 sales by two months?
 
sniffies said:
Wouldn't it be smarter to delay the entire lineup preorders until today so that those who "reluctantly upgraded to 12 Pro but originally wanted 12 Pro Max but didn't want to wait" could actually get the phone they wanted? That's potentially a loss of $100 per unit sold.

And now, a whole 9 hours later, there are STILL some 12 Pro Max's available for launch day delivery. Quite shocking and not good.
Click to expand...
I think your argument is a bit flawed.. the Max is not the most popular phone... its the most expensive which again, does not mean the most popular... that's likely the better way to think about it :)
 
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Because there are component shortages, it allows for them to launch 2 models and try to catch up on demand rather than get swamped all at once. If anything that was the opposite of shooting them selfs in the foot.
 
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sniffies said:
Wouldn't it be smarter to delay the entire lineup preorders until today so that those who "reluctantly upgraded to 12 Pro but originally wanted 12 Pro Max but didn't want to wait" could actually get the phone they wanted? That's potentially a loss of $100 per unit sold.

And now, a whole 9 hours later, there are STILL some 12 Pro Max's available for launch day delivery. Quite shocking and not good.
Click to expand...

At least this spreads things out a little bit for retailers, shippers, etc. Double the demand at one time with all 4 models, and it probably would have gone faster for each model to later than launch day.
 
It doesn't matter. Most people will buy the 12/12 Pro. The Max is too big for your average consumer. For the record the 12 Pro did extremely well in sales. I pre-ordered 2 weeks ago and there's still no ETA for my Pro so I cancelled it today and pre-ordered the 12 Pro Max instead.
 
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I just wonder how many people actually knew the 12 Pro Max even went on sale today. I think many people who don't pay attention to such things saw that the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro were released and decided to upgrade to one of those models thinking those were the two phones Apple was releasing this year.
 
LongWayHome said:
I just wonder how many people actually knew the 12 Pro Max even went on sale today. I think many people who don't pay attention to such things saw that the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro were released and decided to upgrade to one of those models thinking those were the two phones Apple was releasing this year.
Click to expand...

Considering that due to COVID almost every order is being placed online where they advertise all models relatively clearly I doubt it.
 
sniffies said:
That's potentially a loss of $100 per unit sold.
Click to expand...
we dont have any idea

a- who committed to a 12/12 pro but wanted a max all along and apple 'lost out'
b- how much margin is involved with the $100 upcharge for max from 12 pro. it is a bigger screen, bigger battery, internal OIS, and larger sensors. the cost is presumably covered by the price difference and then some.. but
c- the reasoning behind staggering preorders and launch days. its presumably for supply reasons in addition to some prediction of demand. the balance
d- weak launch, if true, doesnt mean weak cycle overall. not everyone upgrades the second a newer one comes out but months later

--

im willing to bet carrier deals more heavily influenced buying 12/12 pro now, and not really caring which model of the 12 they get, than having to wait a few weeks.

anecdotally-

for me, getting 12 pro was $800 off a $1000 Phone

vs 12 pro max $700 off for a $1099 phone. even though $100 less off and $100 more MSRP, and you're talking $200 vs. $400, it's still effectively double the monthly payments. coupled with I do prefer smaller phones over the years, but some balance of a nice sized screen, since I am holding onto my SE2020 (making 12 mini less 'novel' to me, but it still is of interest long term just wanted a telephoto and more ram and battery life), I opted for 12 pro since I wanted the 'smallest' brighter OLED model, pacific blue, and triple cameras / 6gb.

still not lusting for the max honestly. 12 pro is feeling big and weight-y enough for me. I just dont want countless videos on it enough to justify the screen size difference. browsing and texting and checking into apps is more than fine on the 6.1"

getting it a few weeks earlier was a perk too, but not the deciding factor. if the 12 pro didnt feel like 'the one' I would've begrudgingly waited a few more weeks without real issue
plus Im kinda digging 6.1" OLED, being used to 6.1" LCD for 1.5 years on XR (prior to SE2020)
 
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Upgraded from 11PM as I can't stand with that heavy brick any more, now my arm feels better.
 
Because there’s a global pandemic that has significantly affected their ability to validate the manufacturing processes of complex products?
 
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