When Apple's new iPhones are announced, the big question from many will be 'when can I buy the new iPhone?' Regular Apple watchers know that the real question to ask is 'when can I pre-order mine through Apple's website?' Not only does it help fans get in line, it also provides Apple vital information about the demand for the two models, the various storage capacities, and the popularity of this year's color options, while making everyone happy about waiting in a week-long queue for stock
Apple is widely expected to reveal the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus at an event on September the 9th. Leaks via networks in the UK,Germany, and Japan, all point to at the new iOS devices going on sale on September 18th. This matches similar patterns in previous iPhone launches with handsets going on sale less than two weeks after the big reveal. In previous years Apple has opened up a pre-order reservation system online to help manage the stock on the first day.
Following up on the rumors, and looking at previous release patterns, Apple fans can pencil in Friday 11th September as the day that pre-orders will open for the new iOS 9 powered handsets.
New iPhone users can expect to pick up a handset that will be physically stronger than last year's model thanks to a redesigned chassis and stronger material used in the construction. The new handsets should also ship with iOS 9, which has a renewed focus on stability rather than the glut of new features that iOS 8 focused on. Recent leaks from GeekBench suggest that the A9 chip will deliver an increase in benchmarked performance of between 20 and 30 percent.
Apple is expecting a significant level of sales, with the WSJ reporting around 85-90 million handsets are being stockpiled. That level of stock would point to the 6S family easily outselling the 2014 models, just as previous 'S' releases have outsold the vanilla models from previous years. It also takes into consideration that there will be more iPhone 5S users coming to the end of two-year contracts compared to the number of users with mobile contracts that expired as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were put on sale.
Although Apple will be able to use historical data to predict the popularity of a 64GB Gold iPhone 6S compared to a 128 GB space grey iPhone 6S Plus, once pre-orders open Apple will have a better idea on the consumers' reaction to the 2015 models and can work to satisfy demand as quickly as possible.
With a seven-day lead time from the ordering to pick-up in story, Apple has a comfortable window to use actual sales data to tweak deliveries from the production line to Apple Stores around the world to maximise first day sales, and to bias shipments to local and national preferences of the new handsets. The seven-day lead will also be used by the production line to skew the product mix towards the most profitable combinations.
Last year saw Apple's first phablet, the iPhone 6 Plus , in short supply from launch. While Cupertino ensured that the 5.5 inch screened handset continued to reach stores, it was not in sufficient numbers to satisfy demand for the first few months. Different regions saw different memory and color configurations available as the only choice, no doubt driven by a need to provide the most popular to each region. The seven-day pre-order window was not enough to radically change stock levels, but the data allowed the stock to be used as efficiently as possible.
Samsung faced a similar problem at the start of this year with heavy demand for the Galaxy S6 Edge smartphone with the curved edge, compared to the vanilla Galaxy S6. The South Korean company expected a 80/20 split in orders, with the Galaxy S6 selling far more than the S6 Edge. Instead pre-orders revealed a 60/40 split to the S6 Edge.
Apple has a simple unspoken promise to its customers. If you want an iPhone on day one, you should be able to buy an iPhone on day one. Given a supply chain that reaches around the world, a fanatical base looking for immediate gratification, and a reputation for delivering hordes of excited customers outside Apple Stores for local TV news, the distribution of stock is one of final fragile steps towards the magic of Apple.
Like any good wizard, the magic happens before the reveal. In the case of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, the last bit of sleight of hand happens the week before as pre-orders open. By the time the sales start, everyone has been misdirected about standing in a week-long digital queue.
