iPhone 6S hits retail amid online shortages and profiteering
The situation was the norm for Apple, which typically is short of inventory of new iPhones for weeks, sometimes months.
According to the iPhone 6S Pre-Order Tracker, which scrapes Apple's online outlet to determine which models, storage configurations and carrier options are backordered and by how long, the 5.5-in. iPhone 6S Plus currently has a three-to-four-week delay between ordering and shipping in the U.S., Australia, China, Japan and the U.K.
The smaller 4.7-in. iPhone 6S was also backordered. In China, the model will ship two-to-three weeks after ordering, while in the U.K., Japan and Australia, the wait is a week shorter. In the U.S., iPhones ordered today are to ship between Oct. 5 and 19, depending on the carrier, color and storage allotment. Oct. 19 is more than three weeks from today.
Last year, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were in supply-demand imbalance until January 2015, approximately four months after launch.
The backordered iPhones also kicked off the usual wave of sales on secondary sites, including eBay, by people who were first in the pre-order line two weeks ago and have begun receiving their devices today.
Some eBay sellers have clearly overestimated the willingness of buyers to pay outrageous prices -- two posted "Buy It Now" prices above $10,000 for an iPhone 6S Plus. Other profiteers asked lower-but-still-galling numbers.
A common price listed on eBay for an iPhone 6S Plus, for example, was $1,500, anywhere between 58% and 100% above Apple's unsubsidized price, depending on the on-device storage allowance. The lowest Buy It Now price for an iPhone 6S Plus -- a 64GB model -- was $1,099, or 29% above list.
Also traditional for Apple, many of its retail outlets sported lines today as buyers queued up to get an iPhone immediately, rather than wait weeks.