Roger Fingas
Apple on Monday officially ran out of online stock for people wanting to get an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus on launch day, Sept. 25, though some orders may still ship relatively quickly.
Across all launch countries, the earliest possible delivery date has been updated to Sept. 29. Some U.S. deliveries of the regular 6s could happen as late as Oct. 6 though, and Apple's U.K. site mentions shipments taking 1 to 2 weeks. For an iPhone 6s Plus, times have stretched out to 3 to 4 weeks worldwide.
In past years, such delays often took effect within hours or even minutes of Apple opening iPhone preorders. This year, however, Apple added several more days between the start of preorders and the actual launch, presumably giving it more time to build up inventory.
The best chance of getting a 6s or 6s Plus on launch day now likely involves lining up at a retail store, whether one of Apple's or one belonging to a third-party chain, such as AT&T or Best Buy.
To keep control of scalpers Apple is limiting retail purchases to reservations in some regions, including Japan, mainland China, Hong Kong, and tax-free U.S. states. Scalpers could potentially abuse sales in tax-free states to turn a higher profit.
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
35 Comments
I think it's just that anyone planning to buy phones and ship them overseas would gravitate to states that don't charge sales tax. Using the words "abuse" and "scalpers" is being a bit pejorative methinks.
In related news, "Samsung announces it will exhaust launch-day Galaxy S6 Plus preorder supply" (by producing exactly 6 of them).
The way to shut down the scalpers and ensure stock for people buying an iPhone for themselves is to limit purchases to one iPhone, not two. Selling two iPhones to each person makes scalping profitable and screws over the people who just want to buy one.
[quote name="mcarling" url="/t/188417/apple-exhausts-launch-day-iphone-6s-6s-plus-preorder-supply#post_2780237"]The way to shut down the scalpers and ensure stock for people buying an iPhone for themselves is to limit purchases to one iPhone, not two. Selling two iPhones to each person makes scalping profitable and screws over the people who just want to buy one.[/quote] Sorry, that won't work. What if you want buy an iPhone for you and your significant other? They could force a "no cash for two phones" purchases.
I am not surprised. I checked a few days ago on in-store pick up options (since I was toying with the idea of canceling my Day 0 order, and taking advantage of the 10% Discover card discount by buying it outright): basically, the only model I saw being available were 16GB gray. Almost all the 128s were gone, as well as the copper and the gold.