iPhone 4 Supplies Constrained. iPad Shipping in Increasing Quantities

I was at one of our local Malls here in Thailand today. Checking the price of Apple gear in stores here is always a good barometer of global supply chains. A 16GB iPhone 4 was marked up at 60,000 Baht, which is over $2000. Whereas a 3G iPad was on sale for 20,000 Baht, which is around $620.

The store attendant gleefully told me that iPhone 4’s are sold out across the world. His smile dropped a little as I pulled my own iPhone 4 from my pocket. I was of no further interest to him so he moved on to the next customer.

His pricing for the devices does tend to reflect the supply chain news that we are hearing for Apple’s latest hot products.

iPhone 4 supplies are expected to be constrained until sometime in August. But analysts still expect Apple to sell over 10 Million units by then. By year end the same analysts are suggesting that Apple will sell 40 Million of more iPhones.

But Apples manufacturing partners are operating as fast as they possibly can simply to keep up with demand for the latest iPhone, as well as the the previous generation iPhone 3GS which is also still selling in large numbers.

The iPad supply chain seems to be under less pressure now. And that makes sense as it is now where the iPhone supply chain will be in August / September in terms of throughput stability.

Estimates for iPad sales in the June Quarter are now slightly up at 3.5 Million units. And the end of year estimate is for around 10 Million iPads in total.

Manufacturers involved in the production of the iPad for Apple in Taiwan seem on target to deliver 2 million units in July, and through each subsequent month for the foreseeable future.

The number of WiFi only and 3G units sold to date seems to be fairly evenly split, at 58% of sales going to 3G and 42% to WiFi.

Have you got your iPad or your iPhone 4 yet? Or are you still waiting? Let us know in the comments..

[AppleInsider]

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