USA TODAY International Edition
Apple iPhone X sold out pretty much everywhere
LOS ANGELES — Consumers turned out in droves over the weekend to buy Apple’s most expensive iPhone ever, the iPhone X, and in less than three days, it was as good as sold out.
In a spot check of availability for the new iPhone on Monday, USA TODAY could only find units available for sameday retail pickup in Tacoma and Spokane, Wash. An earlier check, on Sunday, found it sold out in 20 big cities.
Consumer enthusiasm vanquished any doubts that Apple would be able to persuade buyers to spend $999 on up for the state-of-the-art phone, its most expensive yet, though it suggested a supply bottleneck — related to specialized components of the phone — could temper sales.
Apple shares ended up 1% at $174.25, a record.
According to Apple’s website, the new phone, which starts at $999, was unavailable for pickup in the following cities: New York, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Dallas, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Washington, D.C., Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.
Delivery times for online orders is three to four weeks, according to Apple. An Apple representative didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The iPhone X went on sale 8 a.m. Friday and started selling out by Saturday afternoon. Long lines returned to the Apple Stores from eager consumers hoping to buy one, something Apple didn’t see with the release of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus in September.
“Lines were stronger than we have seen in years across Apple stores and rivaled iPhone 6 first-day build-up,” said Daniel Ives, an analyst with GBH Tech Research. The last of the great fan lines at Apple Stores was for 2014’s iPhone 6.
Many consumers in the lines were buying two each, either to re-sell or to give as gifts.
Ads for iPhone X units at inflated resale prices from $1,500 to $5,000 began appearing on secondary markets like eBay and Craigslist over the weekend.
Gene Munster, an investor and analyst with Loup Ventures, said these were the longest lines since 2014’s iPhone 6 release.
The iPhone 6 was the last time Apple introduced a redesigned and reimagined phone, as it did with the iPhone X.
“The iPhone X line counts exceeded lines for the previous 3 iPhone releases, including lines 57% longer than the iPhone 7 lines,” Munster wrote in a blog post.
The iPhone featured an edge-to-edge OLED screen, promising richer and stronger colors, the ability to unlock the phone with facial recognition and produce animated emojis based on your facial expressions.
The iPhone X was expected to go quickly. The company is using several new parts that haven’t been used before in mass production, causing the hiccup.
New iPhones from Apple have traditionally sold out by late Sunday on opening weekend, with the exception of the 8 and 7.