Severe iPhone 6 Supply Shortage Will Last Until Q1 2015 as Apple Grapples to Meet Heavy Demand
Apple CEO Tim Cook has admitted that demand for the iPhone 6 is so overwhelming that a balance may not be achieved until early 2015, somehow indicating that stock outs would periodically happen in the next few months.
Short of admitting the likelihood of a supply shortage, Cook revealed in Apple's latest earnings call that demand for the tech giant's 2014 flagship smartphone is "far outstripping supply." The situation applies for both the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus.
While production of both models remaining in the ramp up mode, Cook conceded that a balance in the supply and demand will not be realized until next year. It is safe to assume that for the remaining months of 2014, which include the year's Christmas shopping season, the iPhone 6 will not be readily available in most areas where it is scheduled to rollout.
In some markets, consumers may not be able to get hold of the iOS 8-powered device until early 2015.
And to be fair, production issues are not even to blame, Apple said. Rather, the heavy demand that the iPhone maker has confessed is way unprecedented.
True enough, in ending its fiscal year last September 2014, Apple lured in 39 million iPhone buyers, which the company said is a new quarterly record. Presumably, a fraction of the same sales numbers include the iPhone 6 that Apple said has attracted 10 million buys before the close of September.
Going forward, the prospect seems to exceed not only expectations but also past records. For starters, the iPhone 6 clocked 20 million pre-orders when the process recently commenced in China.
Seemingly buoyed by the upward trend, Cook predicted of better sales to come by highlighting the "incredibly strong guidance that we're giving for next quarter."
The Apple big boss is also upbeat that iPhone 6 supply will not be too problematic, perhaps to normalize soon.
"I'm really confident that supply is going to be great," Cook was reported by Apple Insider as saying.
Barring the onset of supply shortage, both the iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus should touchdown in as many as 115 regions before the end of December 2014, Apple reported.
Around that time too, Apple is forecasting a maximum revenue of more than $66 billion that according to numerous analysts will be anchored to iPhone 6 sales of between 60 and 80 million units, spanning the last days of September through December 2014.