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Why the limited quantity?

Kurfer

Kurfer

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 13, 2008
214
149
I have not been around much to see the keynote crap today but I am seeing the reports of limited quantity but no explanation as to why? Is this to create hype? If so then **** YOU apple, that's such a ******** annoying way to cater to fanboys. The last thing I want to do is wait in line or some long 12 month pre-order for some god damned phone next to hipster barista losers that are maxing their credit cards to buy it so they can be "exclusive".

If it's because they can't figure out how to produce it faster, then please get better.
 
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I also hate Apple for letting all kinds of websites create all sorts of rumours that have not/never been substantiated,
Apple is not giving me the X fast enough.










:p
 
Kurfer said:
I have not been around much to see the keynote crap today but I am seeing the reports of limited quantity but no explanation as to why? Is this to create hype? If so then **** YOU apple, that's such a ******** annoying way to cater to fanboys. The last thing I want to do is wait in line or some long 12 month pre-order for some god damned phone next to hipster barista losers that are maxing their credit cards to buy it so they can be "exclusive".

If it's because they can't figure out how to produce it faster, then please get better.
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Apple isn't creating any type of artificial demand with this new iPhone. This is how Of a lot of iPhone launches are, but I'm hoping the iPhone X will have plenty to ship by the time the iPhone launches in November. That's approximately six weeks of production from now.
 
ct2k7 said:
The hype generated is huge
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What do you think Apple wants more? Hype? Or actually selling phones and making a ~50% profit on each one.

This is purely component-limited. Like nearly every year. And it is very clear if you follow the deals Apple has to make with factories to increase production.
 
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NovemberWhiskey said:
What do you think Apple wants more? Hype? Or actually selling phones and making a ~50% profit on each one.

This is purely component-limited. Like nearly every year. And it is very clear if you follow the deals Apple has to make with factories to increase production.
Click to expand...

I think it's a mixture of both. I've already stated in a different thread that production and manufacturing issues will compound the delivery, but don't forget that there's a lot of freebies for Apple going in here.
 
ct2k7 said:
I think it's a mixture of both. I've already stated in a different thread that production and manufacturing issues will compound the delivery, but don't forget that there's a lot of freebies for Apple going in here.
Click to expand...

No.
 
SCOLANATOR said:
The hype is huge.. but artificially restricting your supply is not a smart business move and also goes against Apple's usual operating practices.
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I don’t any of us are in any good position to understand Apple’s operating practises.

I agree that artificially restricting supply isn’t generally good practice, however... we’re now talking about the iPhone X, and we’ve likely got someone else talking about it as well.
 
SCOLANATOR said:
The hype is huge.. but artificially restricting your supply is not a smart business move and also goes against Apple's usual operating practices.
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"Usual operating practices" of having a limited supply and everything *selling out* immediately? Because that's been the case for all of the launches in recent years. If you don't order within the first 5 minutes, you're not getting it right away. It's a great business move. An annoying one for the consumer, but people want what they can't have. Exclusivity is sexy.
 
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ct2k7 said:
I don’t any of us are in any good position to understand Apple’s operating practises.

I agree that artificially restricting supply isn’t generally good practice, however... we’re now talking about the iPhone X, and we’ve likely got someone else talking about it as well.
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Or they have a limited supply of new components like OLED displays?

jsmith189 said:
"Usual operating practices" of having a limited supply and everything *selling out* immediately? Because that's been the case for all of the launches in recent years. If you don't order within the first 5 minutes, you're not getting it right away. It's a great business move. An annoying one for the consumer, but people want what they can't have. Exclusivity is sexy.
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Maybe because they sell millions upon millions on launch day and this temporarily outstrips supply.
Building up manufacturing capacity to the point where every consumer who wants one gets one on launch day would result in overcapacity for the rest of the year. That's an expensive waste from a business standpoint.

Plus now they are building 3 designs rather than the usual two, that's more equipment and capacity than usual with a very different design and display tech. Seems understandable that there would be supply constraints and it isn't Apple creating hype.
 
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ct2k7 said:
I
Apple have had a long time to get production lines ready, they're experts at this.
Is low yield going to be a persistent problem throughout the year?
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I think you might underestimate the challenge a bit. What they are doing is at the limits of the current technological capabilities. Sure, if you have years to prepare, you can build up some production capacity. But I wouldn't be surprised if the hardware was ready only few months ago.
 
SCOLANATOR said:
Or they have a limited supply of new components like OLED displays?



Maybe because they sell millions upon millions on launch day and this temporarily outstrips supply.
Building up manufacturing capacity to the point where every consumer who wants one gets one on launch day would result in overcapacity for the rest of the year. That's an expensive waste from a business standpoint.

Plus now they are building 3 designs rather than the usual two, that's more equipment and capacity than usual with a very different design and display tech. Seems understandable that there would be supply constraints and it isn't Apple creating hype.
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leman said:
I think you might underestimate the challenge a bit. What they are doing is at the limits of the current technological capabilities. Sure, if you have years to prepare, you can build up some production capacity. But I wouldn't be surprised if the hardware was ready only few months ago.
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Check my other posts in a different thread.

Let’s be honest, the same thing happens every year. If it’s a sourcing problem then getting to the point of demand < supply will take a very long time, possible not even until mid next year if the demand is apparently that strong.

That said, so many times Apple’s estimated shipping has been early on guidance.
 
It almost seems like apple does this intentionally. I've had every iPhone since the 3gs, my preordering career started with the iPhone 4...every preorder slipped into delivery dates months away from launch within a half hour...it just seems like apple should have this down by now. Especially last year with the 7 plus fiasco. The 7 plus was essentially a 3rd year design with minor changes. They should be pros at manufacturing it. No reason it should of been that hard to get for people. All we can hope for, is that apple will be smart and have more of a supply when the x launches, and it wont be so horrible of an experience.
 
Apple doesn’t need to drum up hype for a new phone by artificially restricting stock. It’s not a new brand, they sell successfully every year just by pent up demand. Beyond that, Apple’s success is largely measured based on device sale numbers and revenue, which are hampered by limited availability of higher end devices because deferred revenue is not reportable for the performance of a company at the close of a quarter. Hype around a new phone is self-sustained, stock shortages are typically a reflection of limited supply chain abilities to meet pent up demand. Presume this...Apple would see preorder numbers up to 10-12 million phones in a weekend requiring manufacturing. In contrast, Samsung was just reported to have had 650,000 preorders for the Note 8 in a 5 day period.

C learly easier to meet demand for the latter between 1) lower demand and 2) their ability to control the OLED manufacturing.

In a few years, when Apple begins manufacturing their own OLEDs, this may be a different story. Or their own dual camera module, etc.
 
ct2k7 said:
I respectfully disagree with your opinion.

Apple have had a long time to get production lines ready, they're experts at this.
Is low yield going to be a persistent problem throughout the year?
Click to expand...

You think AirPod's have been pretty much out of stock since the delayed launch because Apple want's to hype those up too?


Apple doesn't need to hype its products by artificially limiting supply
 
Kurfer said:
The last thing I want to do is wait in line or some long 12 month pre-order for some god damned phone next to hipster barista losers that are maxing their credit cards to buy it so they can be "exclusive".
Click to expand...

A rather offensive, judgemental and arrogant comment o_O I hope 50,000 hipster baristas get their phone before you :p
 
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As far as the iPhone X is concerned there are clearly supply issues as well as technology that I'd imagine wasn't ready on time but from a consumer standpoint it does suck that this seems to be the issue every year when an iPhone releases that there is generally a few month wait if you don't preorder... I will say I'm not gonna say Apple doesn't use a bit of "hype" when selling their products but I do know they like to use a lot of fancy marketing terms like "wide color gamut" and "retina HD" to make a 1080p LCD seem like the latest and greatest, but they all do this. I'm gonna keep it honest though I'm as frustrated as everyone else with having to wait cause I'm an impatient ****... I wish they would've made the bezels on the iPhone 8/8plus a bit thinner instead of sticking with an old front display design but Apple is never the first to adopt a new change in the industry.
 
When you are producing brand new products with brand new technology (cue the Apple 'doesn't innovate' here) and you have millions of people wanting to get it right away, there will be issues. The Pixel also had huge supply issues from what I remember.
 
Applefan4515 said:
It almost seems like apple does this intentionally. I've had every iPhone since the 3gs, my preordering career started with the iPhone 4...every preorder slipped into delivery dates months away from launch within a half hour...it just seems like apple should have this down by now. Especially last year with the 7 plus fiasco. The 7 plus was essentially a 3rd year design with minor changes. They should be pros at manufacturing it. No reason it should of been that hard to get for people. All we can hope for, is that apple will be smart and have more of a supply when the x launches, and it wont be so horrible of an experience.
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Ordering from Apple Store, I find Apple just allows for plenty of leeway in the shipping estimates. I've almost always been able to get my iPhone preorders on release day. The only exception was the iPhone 6 Plus which was estimated at 3-4 weeks but I received the week after release.

As for the 7/7 Plus release, iirc, Jet Black was in high demand but if you're okay with the other colors, available wasn't as bad. I remember going to my local AT&T store 6PM release day and I believe they had the 7 Plus albeit 16GB Rose Gold only.
 
There will always be limited supply. If production were switched to U.S., instead of China, it would probably be better.

This year, they did it differently by starting pre-orders a far later than normal. I believe, they did that so they'd have a larger supply to complement the demand.
 
Mi1lion said:
There will always be limited supply. If production were switched to U.S., instead of China, it would probably be better.

This year, they did it differently by starting pre-orders a far later than normal. I believe, they did that so they'd have a larger supply to complement the demand.
Click to expand...

It would also cost alot more!
 
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