Apple's estimated iPhone 5 shipping times improve to 2-3 weeks

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Availability of the iPhone 5 continues to improve, as Apple's website now advertises that all models ship within two to three weeks.

The latest estimated shipping times are an improvement from the previously advertised timeframe of three to four weeks. The shipping time applies to both the black and slate as well as the white and silver models, in all three capacities.

The improved shipping times corroborate reports from last week that revealed Apple's supply was catching up with demand for iPhone 5 inventory at its U.S. retail stores. Gene Munster and his team at Piper Jaffray found that 54 percent of 100 Apple Stores had the AT&T iPhone 5 in stock, while 24 percent had the Verizon model, and 84 percent were stocked with the Sprint variety.

Those numbers from last week were a major improvement from the weeks prior, when supplies of the iPhone 5 were severely constrained, particularly for AT&T and Verizon customers.

iPhone 5


"We believe this is an important step for Apple as it appears they are finally gaining momentum in being able to keep up with demand for the iPhone 5," Munster wrote. "We believe that if AT&T and Verizon device availability follows the same trend as Sprint, it may only be 2-3 weeks before iPhone 5s are consistently available to customers."

Also last week, Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee said his checks within Apple's supply chain found that the company had significantly improved its production capacity of the iPhone 5 since the device launched in late September. According to Wu, the supply chain bottleneck for the iPhone 5 moved from components to the assembly of the device itself.

Earlier reports claimed that the iPhone 5's in-cell touch panel and aluminum chassis have caused quality control issues for both Apple and Foxconn. One unnamed source from Foxconn said in October that the iPhone 5 is "the most difficult device" the company has ever been tasked with assembling.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    Perhaps the demand has slipped making it appear that the supply is catching up.
  • Reply 2 of 19
    Just more excuses for "analysts" to manipulate the stock... no matter what the news indicates.
  • Reply 3 of 19

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by waldobushman View Post



    Perhaps the demand has slipped making it appear that the supply is catching up.


     


    Are you a professional analyst?

  • Reply 4 of 19
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by waldobushman View Post



    Perhaps the demand has slipped making it appear that the supply is catching up.


     


    In another post you postulated the opposite, that Apple can't get enough product out to meet demand and that THAT was a bad thing. Now you say demand is weak because shipping times have shortened. So which is it, genius? Why is your glass always half empty when it comes to Apple?

  • Reply 5 of 19

    .

  • Reply 6 of 19

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by waldobushman View Post



    Perhaps the demand has slipped making it appear that the supply is catching up.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post


     


    In another post you postulated the opposite, that Apple can't get enough product out to meet demand and that THAT was a bad thing. Now you say demand is weak because shipping times have shortened. So which is it, genius? Why is your glass always half empty when it comes to Apple?



    And, the correct answer is........ he's a troll....

  • Reply 7 of 19
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member


    Yep, came this close to doing the half-empty sarcasm thing.


     


    Then decided to wait for the inevitable. Didn't take long. lol

  • Reply 8 of 19

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


     


    And, the correct answer is........ he's a troll....



     


    Or... Apple is dooooooomed!

  • Reply 9 of 19
    My iPhone 5 order (ordered last week) just got bumped up a week sooner in terms of anticipated delivery, so this is definitely an improvement in supplies. Yay! When I placed the order about a week ago, I had been told it would be delivered Dec 7 - 17, now it says it will deliver between Nov 30 - Dec 6.
  • Reply 10 of 19


    oh good shipping and store stock of the iphone 5 has gotten better. Now where is the unlocked iphone 5 for the usa ? its been over a month now and still no word on the unlocked iPhone 5. The carriers are mean about unlocking. the verizon iphone 5 is yes unlocked, but works on gsm 3g only no 4g or lte gsm on that. At&t is mean about unlocking, and that unlock isent full, due to if you were to have a problem with that iphone and apple swaps it out they would replace it with a locked to at&t model, due to its model number is the at&t model not factory unlocked model. Apple needs to release the unlocked iphone 5 for the usa sooner, its unfair that canda and them have it, but sadly the apple site wont ship it to the usa, plus you would have to in oder for its warrenty to work here get apple care, and on amazon and ebay etc they are charging over $100 more for the unlocked iphone 5.

  • Reply 11 of 19


    Once again "Truth, Justice and Apple Way" have triumphed over the powers of darkness and Chaos.


     


    image

  • Reply 12 of 19
    I can only speak to my own experience. In stock at AT&T. It took 30 min to purchase. :-) happy 49th to me!
  • Reply 13 of 19
    This means that Apple might have it fully available to Christmas costumers.
  • Reply 14 of 19
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by waldobushman View Post



    Perhaps the demand has slipped making it appear that the supply is catching up.


     


    I am going to hope you are wrong, they did said on the earning call that production has improve in october. Btw I think the items that are going to be on sale on black friday are going to be the iPods, the ipad4 and the marbook airs.

  • Reply 15 of 19


    Showing In Stock at AT&T online, and I was just in store this weekend buying a new case, and was told all their Alaska stores have white and black in stock at the moment when I inquired after seeing a similar story posted on 9to5. Maybe Apple corporate should buy back some of the parcels they sent to their carrier partners?

  • Reply 16 of 19
    I ordered my 32gb black iPhone 5 here in Belgium on the launch day, september 28, at a store of Apple's exclusive supplier, Mobistar, and I'm still waiting for it.

    It's been 7 weeks now, and still counting...
  • Reply 17 of 19


    I gotta say that after looking at some of the Apple prototype & compare it with the actual unit that was launched, I'd still choose the one that's been launched! The new iPhone 5 feels great on your hand no matter how you hold it & this is something that Samsung can't compete with I supposed. It feels so solid as compared to the Samsung plastic casing.

  • Reply 18 of 19
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,653member


    If you want an iPhone5, place an online order for store pickup.   Then check at 10pm (I don't know whether it's 10pm in each time zone or 10pm EST) to see which stores will have one.   Keep refreshing because they don't always update at exactly 10pm.


     


    I was advised to do this by an Apple store employee.   I finally remembered to do it last Wednesday night and phones were available in every single NYC region store after I kept checking.  I think it updated at about 10:08pm.  Picked mine up on Thursday.


     


    When I got there, there were two lines - one for people like me who had reserved online and another, which I'm guessing were for walk-ins.   But I believe they ran out of phones by the afternoon.   The sales person told me that they had just gotten in a big batch which were delayed because of Hurricane Sandy.


     


    ---


    I love the people who complain when Apple doesn't have phones available ("How come Cook doesn't have a decent supply chain...?") and then complain when they do ("Oh..there's phones available...there must be less demand.")   Of course there's less demand.  Each day that they sell phones, there are fewer people left who don't have one.  

  • Reply 19 of 19
    aiaaia Posts: 181member


    The Apple Canada store is showing "Available: 2-3 weeks" for all models and I was going to ask you folks if I should tack on another week for shipping, however I just noticed that the US store says "Available to ship: 2-3 weeks" so I'm assuming it's the same. Earlier this week it was showing 3-4 weeks so I might just wait another week before ordering - I've got a friend who will be visiting from Canada in early December so it's a bit tight.


     


    Some of you may recall that I got in on the pre-order - I'm now looking at replacing my wife's 16GB white with a 32GB as she's been complaining that 16GB isn't enough for her Korean soap operas. I'm also considering replacing my 16GB black as mine came with 2 anodization ("paint") chips out of the box, and picked up a few more chips from being dropped on the floor a couple of times (this was before I got a case for it). Yes, I nearly did lose sleep over this and it still bugs me! I haven't decided if I will stick with 16GB or go with 32GB, though I'm also running out of space on mine (thanks to taking lots of videos of my kid) so it might make more sense to go with 32GB. But I am going to stick with black as I think it looks awesome, as long as it isn't chipped that is - I have a decent case now so chips will hopefully be a thing of the past.

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