The latest addition to the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) smartphone family has finally come on sale in Australia. There already seems to have been a couple of problems in the region. Chief among them has been the lack of gold iPhone 5s units available for purchase. MacRumors reported the shortage as sales went live just hours ago.
The news goes along with rumors of supply constraints for the iPhone 5s. The fingerprint reader that comes as standard in the high profile smartphone seems to be in limited supply. That means that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may have a tough time delivering the iPhone 5s in the first couple of weeks of sale.
Apple iPhone 5s shortage
According to MacRumors, an Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) store in Doncaster, on the outskirts of Melbourne in Australia, reported that it had absolutely zero Gold iPhone 5s units available for launch day. Fans of the company’s new gold colored smartphone will be nervous about the availability of the model when it is released across the world on Friday.
iPhone shortages are nothing new for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). The massive demand for the company’s devices often leads to problems in the first week or so. Last year, the company sold almost every iPhone 5 it made available for the launch of the device. The Doncaster store reported that it may not get its hands on any gold iPhone models for up to three weeks.
The shortages in gold iPhone 5s units may be a result of projected lower demand for the new color. The gold iPhone has been somewhat controversial in some circles, as has the change from traditional black and white iPhones to silver and space-grey.
Apple iPhone 5s shipping times
The launches in Australia and across the pacific, as well as the coming launches in Europe, will give North American iPhone 5s aspirants something to go by when calculating shipping times. In Australia, the iPhone 5s will take between 7 and 10 days to ship to consumers, no matter the color or the storage.
Other pacific markets, like Hong Kong and Singapore are not as lucky. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) websites are estimating shipments in October in those markets. In the United Kingdom, O2, one of the county’s biggest carriers, has said it will have no iPhone 5s models on Friday.
