Kevin Bostic
Likely indicating still steady demand for the iPhone 5s, Apple has removed pick-up-in-store availability for its high-end smartphone after just one day.
On Monday, both the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c became available for customers to order online and pick up at their local Apple Store, sometimes in as little as one hour. Now, though, a check of Apple's online store reveals that the iPhone 5s is unavailable for in-store pickup in any color or configuration.
The iPhone 5c, however, is still available for pickup in an Apple Store. Some reports have noted that the faster selling pace for the higher-end iPhone may be due largely to the rush of early adopters eager to have Apple's latest and greatest smartphone model.
Demand for the iPhone 5s has been particularly high, with initial supply exhausted in less than two days. Soon after the device launched, units ordered online went from shipping in days to shipping at an unspecified time in October.
Apple released figures on Monday revealing that it had sold nine million total iPhone 5s and 5c units in the devices' first three days of availability. The Cupertino company could likely have sold more of its high-end device had there been greater supply available, but Apple's 5s inventory is believed by many to have been lower than usual due to poor production yields of the built-in Touch ID biometric sensor.
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Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
46 Comments
5C i selling like hell as well. Who thinks opposite, has no clue about Apple and its customers...
[quote name="AppleInsider" url="/t/159726/iphone-5s-no-longer-available-for-in-store-pickup-at-apple-retail-stores#post_2404390"]Apple released figures on Monday revealing that it had sold nine million total iPhone 5s and 5c units in the devices' first three days of availability. The Cupertino company could likely have sold more of its high-end device had there been greater supply available, but Apple's 5s inventory is believed by many to have been lower than usual due to poor production yields of the built-in Touch ID biometric sensor.[/quote] I wish people would stop repeating stupid rumors as if they were true. If supply were lower than normal, how did they sell record numbers of iPhones? Dropping of 5S in-store pickup seems odd. Maybe they expect supply to catch up with demand fairly quickly which would make the in-store pickup policy superfluous. OTOH, the analysts will say that the demand is so poor that they don't need to offer pickup any more. /s
5C i selling like hell as well. Who thinks opposite, has no clue about Apple and its customers...
I think the 5c best time will be later in the cycle, when both phones becomes outdated, customer buying 6 months or less from the next upgrade are more cost sensitive and less after the lastest tech.
Yeah, channel stuffing. /s
Another foolish analyst -- Munster -- bites the dust.
If supply were lower than normal, how did they sell record numbers of iPhones?
The arguments of some analysts (and it makes senses to some extend BTW) is that a chunk of the 9 millions phones are 5c's that went into the channel (merchants other than Apple, like Best Buy for example). Those phones may not be "sold" units yet. Like it or not, some of Apple "sold" numbers are actually "ship" numbers and not sold numbers. Phones "ship" into the channel are count as "sold" by Apple. Phones sold on Apple online site and in Apple stores are real "sold" phones.
Normally this would not matter if Apple would have sold the iphone 5 at a discount. But because the 5c is a new phone, channel shipments are higher than usual. In the case of the 5s, since its sold out, its fair to say those units in the channel are "sold" units because, well, they are sold out.
So some of the 9 millions "sold" phones are "ship" iphones 5c. But its almost impossible to know how many.