As the holidays draw near, supplies of the iPhone 5s are finally starting to meet demand. When the smartphone first launched in September, it was nearly impossible to find any model in Apple stores and third-party retailers. As the weeks progressed, more and more models starting becoming available, while gold remained the most allusive.
Apple stores in the U.S. now have 90% of iPhone 5s models in stock, according to research from Piper Jaffray analyst and iTV rumormonger Gene Munster.
At the start of October, Apple only had 10% of iPhone 5s models in stock and only 31% two weeks ago. Munster believes the iPhone 5s will be fully stocked at Apple by the beginning of December, which indicates a rapid increase in production. A recent report said that a Foxconn factory in China stopped making the iPhone 5c altogether to fully focus on the 5s. Perhaps Apple didn’t expect demand to be so high, or perhaps mass-manufacturing the device’s new hardware, like Touch ID, has proven more difficult than expected.
Apple’s online shipping estimates for the iPhone 5s dropped to 3-5 business days just last week after showing 1-2 week estimates before.
iPad mini supplies remain much thinner, as Apple stores just started allowing walk-in purchases and cellular models are nearly impossible to come by.
Via: CNET
