Still not enough iPhone 5 units to satisfy demand

“If iPhone 5 sales have not yet spiked to the heights investors had hoped, it’s not because of limited demand,” John Paczkowski reports for AllThingsD. “It’s due to a continuing shortfall in supply.”

“Two weeks after its retail debut, Apple’s latest iPhone continues to be difficult to come by, with devices ordered online showing shipping estimates of three weeks to four weeks, and a number of Apple’s retail stores reporting low inventory,” Paczkowski reports.

Paczkowski reports, “Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster… surveyed 100 U.S. Apple Stores over the past week and concluded that the supply of iPhone 5 is ‘extremely limited.’ Given that, Munster lowered his iPhone forecast for September from 27.2 million units to 25 million units.”

Read more in the full article here.

18 Comments

  1. How can so-called analysts distinguish the supply shortage is coz Apple can’t make enough iPhone 5? Can’t it be interpreted as demand is bigger than supply and customers are willing to wait . The estimated sales is the biggest Apple ever has and AAPL soars ?

    1. Well, it’s still an issue in the financial modeling. If analysts had been modeling a profit level based on a super-huge quantity sold, but it turns out that many units couldn’t be made, then the profit level will be lower in absolute dollars. So going into the earnings call they’ll be expecting that if demand couldn’t be met this past quarter there will be an increase in the current quarter, and they’ll hope Apple execs will quantify that somewhat and guide upward as a result, or downward if supply constraints haven’t been fixed. It could be a bumpy ride!

  2. Eventually Apple will catch up, a problem any manufacturer would die to have. Love now how the negatives pop up despite the immense popularity and huge demand. There is no iReplicator yet, these things still have to be MANUFACTURED anal-yst peepoh!

    1. Sorry, which popularity and which demand do you speak of? The propaganda one? Supply and demand arguments are only relevant if the supply line # is accurate and not a fabrication. I can create a marketing plan around aver stating supply and then suggesting that demand outweighs supply. Apple along with its paid bloggers, pundits, analysts and reviewers are the best at this.

      Toyota did it for years and worked just as well fro them as it does for Apple today.

      FYI, I live in a major Canadian City and iPhone 5’s are not hard to come by at all?

  3. Supplies are very limited at the Walnut Street and King of Prussia Apple Stores. The sales reps told me that they get dozens of each model every morning and all are gone by closing – usually hours beforehand – and they turn away almost as many people each day as who get one.

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