Unlike previous years, new iPhones slow to sell out
Did you forget to pre-order the iPhone 5c last night? Don’t fret -- there seems to be plenty left on Apple’s website.
Preorders kicked off Friday for the iPhone 5c, one of two new iPhones Apple announced earlier this week. The iPhone 5c comes in five different colors and starts at $99 with a two-year contract.
In typical Apple fashion, the device became available for pre-order the Friday after it was announced, but unlike most iPhone pre-orders, the 5c has yet to sell out or start showing delayed shipping times.
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If you head to Apple’s website, you can still order the iPhone 5c in any color you want, with 16 or 32 gigabytes of storage for all four major U.S. carriers, and the device will still ship to you by Sept. 20, its official release date.
That’s great news for consumers, but it raises the question of why Apple has yet to sell out the device when last year it took just one hour for iPhone 5 pre-orders to sell out online.
Of course, this could be because demand is weak for the iPhone 5c, or it could simply be that this year Apple is doing a better job meeting demand than it did with the iPhone 5 in 2012.
“We believe the iPhone 5 had significant supply constraints at the launch date last year due to the new aluminum unibody enclosure that was difficult for suppliers to manufacture at first,†Brian White, an analyst for Cantor Fitzgerald Equity Research, said in a note sent out Friday morning.
“Our research has not uncovered any supply constraints around the iPhone 5C this year, as we believe the manufacturing process is relatively straightforward given the polycarbonate case.â€
There also appears to be plenty of iPhone 5c units left from Apple’s carrier partners. Only the 32 GB yellow iPhone 5c from AT&T appears to show any delay, saying it will ship within seven to 14 days.
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