Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is now caught up with the demand for the iPhone 5S. According to a survey conducted by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, the phone is 100% in stock at all sixty Apple retail locations in the United States.
Munster’s notes revealed, “We believe Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has caught up to demand, which we had expected ahead of the core holiday period. In reflecting on the supply for the 5S product launch overall, we believe that net-net Apple has done a better job in supplying stores with phones proportional to demand.”
Apple experienced supply constraints
iPhone shipping times also showed significant improvement. Just a few weeks ago, shipping times went from 3-5 days to 1-3 days for all three models. The phone first launched in September and since that date, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has experienced supply constraints. This in turn affected their shipments as they kept struggling to make enough phones to meet demand. Although Apple introduced the iPhone 5C the same day, the demand for a lower end smartphone that comes with a colorful plastic body just wasn’t as great.
Fortunately for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), the tech giant didn’t experience many supply issues on Black Friday. Duetsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore conducted a poll of over 100 retailers to assess the demand for Apple gadgets. This survey included fifty Apple stores and over fifty smartphone carriers/big chains.
iPhone 5s was in ample supply at Apple’s stores
Apple Insider’s Neil Hughes added, “Whitmore found that demand for all of Apple’s key products was “robust” and that the company has been able to supply solid levels of inventory at its own stores thus far for the holiday shopping season. Specifically, Whitmore found that the iPhone 5s was in ample supply at Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stores, while on the 128 gigabyte capacity of the iPad Air was sold out in a few locations.”
Third party resellers were pretty much stocked well save for the few Best Buy locations.
