iPhone 7 goes on sale but Apple warns that supply constraints mean actually buying one will be tough
The traditional queues were still there this year – but it was only worth it if you’d pre-booked your time
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Apple’s iPhone 7 and 7 Plus have gone on sale, greeted as ever by queues out the door to pick them up. And its headline feature, water resistance, was shown off by torrential downpours outside the stores.
Long queues outside the Apple Store have become a fixture of the release cycle, and snake around the shops every year. But this year demand was so far ahead of supply that Apple asked people to book their slots to pick a phone up online – meaning that getting to the queue early didn’t mean that you’d necessarily be able to get your hands on a phone.
Indeed, Apple told customers that they should only come along if they’d reserved a slot or ordered their phone online for pickup in store.
Apple has seen huge demand for the iPhone 7, though for the first time ever it won’t say how many people have actually bought it. That is because doing so usually reflects how many phones are available rather than how many people want them, it said – because stores always sell out, the number actually refers to how many phones Apple managed to make.
This year, supply of some of those phones is already quite low. The new, glossy Jet Black colour is in very limited supply, and so has the iPhone 7 Plus.
As such, people looking to buy the phone now are likely to have to wait for days or weeks for it actually to arrive. The people in the queue had mostly booked their slots when the phone became available for pre-order, last week.
The new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were launched at an event in San Francisco last week. The headline features include a much improved camera, speedier processor, better battery life and the new, hard to get colours – but probably the most controversial is the removal of the headphone jack.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments