Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) says that its premier smartphone, the iPhone 5s, is already sold out in many stores, and supply is limited in others. The phone went on sale in New York at 8 a.m. this morning. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) sent a statement to AllThingsD with the information about iPhone 5s availability.
According to the smartphone maker, “Demand for the new iPhones has been incredible, and we are currently sold out or have limited supply of certain iPhone 5s models in some stores.” The company did not say how many of the iPhone 5s units had actually sold this morning, nor did they mention how sales of the iPhone 5c were going.
Apple iPhone 5s supply constraints
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rarely has enough devices on sale on its first weekend to satisfy all of the demand, but this year saw some really rough supply problems. As soon as the phone was released in Australia and China it became clear that there were not enough gold units of the iPhone 5s.
It now seems that the entire range of iPhone 5s colors and storage sizes is facing supply difficulties. Gene Munster’s prediction that the company would sell pretty much every iPhone 5s it put on sale this weekend appears to be coming true. Munster predicted that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) would put 2.5 million units of the smartphone on sale this weekend.
The likely cause of the iPhone 5s supply problems is lack of supply in one of the new components in the device, the fingerprint reader. In the run up to the release of the new iPhone 5s, analysts were unsure whether the fingerprint reader would come as part of the device because there appeared to be supply issues.
Apple iPhone 5s demand
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will likely release the amount of iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c units it sold this weekend early next week. Until then, it is impossible to do anything but speculate on the company’s sales for opening weekend. It seems likely that the company will sell pretty much all of its iPhone 5s units, which should amount to 2.5-3 million.
The telling feature will be the company’s iPhone 5c sales. It is unclear how many of those models are on sale this weekend, but there have not been any reports of supply difficulties thus far.
