The iPhone X is Apple’s new flagship iPhone that paves the way for the future of the company’s smartphone designs. Consumers will be able to pre-order the iPhone X from October 27, with the phone’s launch date set as November 3. However, actually getting an iPhone X in 2017, let alone on launch day, looks quite unlikely. The reason? Apple hasn’t started manufacturing them yet due to a number of production delays.
Although there’s no official confirmation, the production delay news comes via Chris Caso, chip analyst for Raymond James Investment Services. As MacRumors reports, Caso carried out supply chain checks and discovered there have been multiple production delays for Apple’s new phone. Production isn’t expected to start until mid-October, which is two months later than predicted.
The knock-on effect of such a long delay is demand will far outstrip very constrained supply. That’s always the case with a new iPhone model even with production on track. Now we have a new, highly desirable handset and a long production delay meaning there’s going to be no launch stock pile ready to sell. It’s therefore possible anyone pre-ordering the iPhone X in late October could be waiting weeks, if not months for their $999 smartphone to arrive.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are set to launch tomorrow. Although they count as new entries in the iPhone line, the iPhone X looms over them like a shadow. The iPhone 8 is seen as an improvement on the familiar, but not the future. How many iPhone users will opt to buy an iPhone 8 when they could get the iPhone X?
It will be interesting to see how that choice impacts sales. Initially sales may be sluggish compared to previous launches as consumers wait for the X on November 3, but if it soon becomes apparent the iPhone X will be in short supply until well into 2018, we could see the focus turn back to iPhone 8.