Neil Hughes
With preorders underway for the iPhone 6s and its larger counterpart, the 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus is expected to see limited supply at launch, due to apparent production issues related to the handset's backlight.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities issued a note to investors on Monday, a copy of which was obtained by AppleInsider, revealing the apparent issues faced by Apple supplier Minebea. As a result, Kuo said, Apple has placed rush orders with competing supplier Radiant, in hopes of addressing the problem.
The analyst noted that shipping times for the iPhone 6s Plus are already pushed out 3 to 4 weeks after the official Sept. 25 launch. He expects a more severe shortage of the iPhone 6s Plus at launch, chiefly due to alleged production bottlenecks with the backlight module.
Radiant and Apple have worked together before, as the supplier creates backlight modules for the iPad mini. Given the fact that the iPad mini's 7.9-inch screen is relatively close to the iPhone 6s Plus's 5.5-inch display, Kuo believes Radiant may be "more skilled" at producing backlight modules in that size range than Minebea.
As a result, Kuo believes that new orders from Apple will boost Radiant's supply of iPhone 6s Plus backlights from about 40 percent to as high as 80 percent.
Apple announced earlier Monday that the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are already on track to exceed last year's record setting iPhone 6 launch. A year ago, the iPhone 6 series debuted to sales of 10 million units in their first weekend — Â a record this year's refresh appears poised to break.
Apple is launching iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in 12 countries, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the U.K., and the U.S. That's larger than the iPhone 6 launch, which debuted in 9 countries and did not include China.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
16 Comments
Here we go again ....
Is there a possibility that Apple contracting the other company could benefit those of us who had to order through our carrier and saw our orders completed at 3:02 AM EST get our deliveries pushed back to the end of October? AT&T seemed to be sold out of the 6S before preorders even began (I was able to log in for sale at 2:59 AM EST (11:59 PST) and still have a delivery date of October 16-23rd).
Does Ming-Chi Kuo have this standard set of notes that he publishes on Monday morning after every iPhone release and when there is a positive new on yet-another-record-sale? He never fails!
Apple's statement said orders for the 6S Plus exceeded their forecast. I think I'll trust Apple over supply chain noise.
I'm just glad for Apple (and me) that there is such a strong continuing demand for these new iPhones. The iPhone 6+ 128 I bought last year is the best iPhone ever. It still works great, and I get to turn it in for a new one—whenever it arrives (current estimate from AT&T: 23 Oct). No worries.