Apple began accepting preorders for the iPhone 14 family Friday. According to offline supply chain surveys, the Cupertino-based tech giant anticipated much more demand for its iPhone 14 Pro models than the standard variants. Even so, it’s already looking like Cupertino might have benefited from increasing those numbers even further.
Preorder Survey of iPhone 14 Order Allocation Heavily Dominated by Pro and Pro Max
According to noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s initial orders for the iPhone 14 prove the tech giant expects its Pro models to be much more popular. In fact, Kuo’s offline survey of the supply chain shows the total order allocation for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max was about 85%.
By way of comparison, Cupertino seems to expect the iPhone 14 Plus to be much less popular. The order allocation for that model is less than 5%. Kuo also points out that, historically, preorders for Apple’s high-end products have always been more popular in the early days of product availability.
Product Segmentation Strategy Changes Mean Even Starker Difference
Of course, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max could also be benefitting from Apple’s shift in product segmentation strategy. As we’ve previously reported, the differences between the iPhone 13 base models and their successor are less than impressive. Both handsets use the same A15 chipset, but the iPhone 14 gains one more GPU core. There are also modest improvements in the camera system and the new Crash Detection feature.
Those differences clearly aren’t expected to be enough to attract great numbers of early upgrades, though. In fact, I almost wouldn’t suggest upgrading to an iPhone 14 base model unless your current phone is suffering battery life problems or is older than the iPhone 11.
On the other hand, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max see more improvements over the previous generation. The A16 chip is about 40% faster than that found in the iPhone 13 Pro models, and the camera system is considerably better. Even there, though, many people may not benefit too much from an upgrade.
Nevertheless, iPhone 14 Pro Delivery Estimates Already Delayed
Despite order allocations heavily favoring the iPhone 14 Pro models, delivery times are slipping. As noted earlier, those who haven’t already placed their preorders may be looking at October delivery dates instead of Sept. 16.
While some configurations of the iPhone 14 Pro still offer Sept. 16 delivery estimates, many have already fallen to mid-October. At the time of this writing, no configuration of the iPhone 14 Pro Max showed a delivery estimate earlier than Oct. 10.
Some luck may be had on Sept. 16 by going to an Apple Store in person, but consumers should check availability before making the drive.
Jeff:
I, for one, will be ordering the Pro. I had hoped that the oft-rumoured hardware subscription service would have been in place by now or at least permit a ‘grandfathering in’ of this year’s models, however the Pro models have thus far retained substantial resale value.
I think it’s still possible for the subscription service to show up for the iPhone 14 models. We may hear more on that in October. Depending on that, and on what third-party apps do with Lock Screen widgets, upgrading to a 14 Pro may seem worth it to me in a month or two. We’ll see; with the right widgets on my Lock Screen, I can see some real benefit to the new Always On Display.
It makes sense to me as early adopters seem to tend to the type of person who wants, or needs, high end models.