You might find it hard to walk into your local Apple Store and pick up an iPhone 7, particularly if it’s a configuration that doesn’t sell as many units as the base 32GB model. Apple offers the handset in a handful of color and storage configurations so availability issues were bound to come up at launch, it’s normal and something we see every year when new iPhones are launched. According to a new report customers can expect to see proper iPhone 7 retail availability on and after October 8th.
AppleInsider claims to have heard from multiple sources in the company’s retail supply chain that gradual improvements are now being seen in iPhone 7 stocks at retail locations and that a big improvement is expected next month as a major shipment is going to land.
One of the sources quoted in the report advises customers to reserve the unit they are looking for online first. “Just because we’ll have stock, doesn’t mean that we didn’t get cleaned out for the day an hour before you get here,” the source is quoted as saying.
The scribe claims to have seen documents that prove that some retail backlog has also been caused by the bankruptcy of major shipping company Hanjin freight. Apparently some of its ships were carrying few containers that were full of iPhone models but as the company was unable to pay shipping port fees the ships were not allowed to dock and Apple’s cargo could not be unloaded.
It’s now claimed that an “unnamed tech company” has paid some of the outstanding shipping port fees so that the Hanjin vessels could dock and the cargo could finally be offloaded.
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