iPhone 5S Supply Shortages Will Plague Launch

Shortages of the iPhone 5S and 5C at carrier retail stores are leaving carriers “concerned,” according to reports. This comes as a result of other shortcomings in Apple’s supply chain.

Since the new iPhone 5S gold color is expected to sell even more rapidly — and already is — Apple is now requesting that suppliers increase production in order to keep up with demand. Without doing so, people may have to wait weeks before they can purchase and receive a gold iPhone 5S.

Tweets from many customers around the US have already stated that the gold iPhone 5S is not available and has sold out within hours of becoming available.

Interestingly enough, multiple carriers in the UK told the BBC that while there were shortages in the iPhone 5S supply, there were more than enough iPhone 5Cs in stock. The iPhone 5C is a cheaper iPhone, made with plastic and various colors, but is not expected to sell as much as the flagship iPhone 5S (at least in the US.)

The Wall Street Journal stated that lines outside of the Apple store in Beijing were long but were being managed far better than two years ago when the iPhone 4S launched. During that launch, riots almost broke out due to poor line management.

Even though Apple is expanding availability of its iPhone 5S by offering an iPhone — for the first time ever — at launch in China, other issues could cause availability to be far too low. This is especially true with the gold iPhone 5S, which already has a longer than 7-10 day wait time on the Apple website.

Based off of the excitement regarding the gold-version of the iPhone 5S, it was obvious that the device would sell like no other, so Apple’s decision to provide less gold units will probably turn out bad.

For those of you that have already received the iPhone 5S, you are lucky, as everyone else will have to wait quite a while.

Image via iMore