Estimated delivery dates for the iPhone Duo began slipping dramatically within a minute of pre-orders opening on Friday. Some customers who ordered within the first few minutes were given shipping estimates stretching into January of next year. That undeniably poses problems for Apple, and some have gone as far as calling it "a major mistake" to launch with such limited stock. Personally, the author argues it is annoying for customers but more of a mixed blessing for Apple.
Apple always builds inventory before launching new products, but with new categories like its first foldable iPhone, predicting demand is difficult. The company faces a no-win balancing act. If demand greatly exceeds supply, Apple risks frustrating its most loyal customers, the ones willing to go all in on a first-generation product. If supply exceeds demand and the device remains available for immediate delivery, critics will point to that as evidence of a flop.
No one outside Apple knows the true position. The imbalance may stem from the iPhone Duo being far more popular than Apple anticipated, as the company implies, or from demand being modest while manufacturing complexity limits supply. The author's view is that it is likely a mixture of both: relatively high demand and constrained supply. Apple appears to have addressed the two main issues that have beset Android foldables, a visible crease and poor durability, and the device's hinge is likely very difficult to manufacture, with low yield rates.
The situation is a mixed blessing. Waiting until January after pre-ordering in October is genuinely frustrating for customers. Yet the immediate slipping of delivery dates also feeds a narrative of a wildly popular product, boosting hype around it. Both things can be true at once.
Source: 9to5Mac · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing