Retail availability of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models remains in short supply even its few days left before the Black Friday. A new survey has resulted that Apple is still struggling to satisfy customers' demand for its latest-generation smartphones which are the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. According to a report, Apple didn't expect that the demand of the consumers will be that high.
Apple iPhone 7 and 7 Plus Supply Remains Short
As reported by MacRumors, Apple is unlikely to reach iPhone 7 supply and demand equilibrium by the end of the December quarter this year, suggesting stock will remain tight through the holiday shopping season, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
He polled 134 U.S. Apple stores and found that just 47 percent of iPhone 7 models were in stock. While the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 has 91 percent availability, just 3 percent of 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus models were available in stores.
Supply Shortage in China
Supplies are even more constrained in China, where iPhone availability is just 16 percent— a slight improvement from 12 percent a month ago. There, Piper Jaffray has been tracking online stock from carrier China Unicom, according to Apple Insider.
In contrast, by this point a year ago, the iPhone 6s had reached 100 percent availability at Apple's retail stores. To Munster, this suggests demand for the iPhone 7 series is outpacing last year's iPhone 6s.
In a late September that initial iPhone 7 availability was restricted by an international freight logjam. Munster's findings correspond with that to some degree -while overall iPhone 7 model availability stayed at 35 percent from late September to mid October, it jumped to 46 percent by the end of October.
Munster has concluded that Apple iPhone unit growth of 3 percent year over year for the December quarter of this year. He also expects that tight iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus supply at Apple stores is a slightly positive sign for the following March 2017 quarter.
