BEIJING, September 29 (TMTPOST)— Owing to supply crunch and strong demand, iPhone 13 series are becoming a lineup with the longest delivery time in Apple’s history. If ordering an iPhone 13 or 13 Pro at the moment, Chinese consumers have to wait for three to five weeks to receive the device. Most of iPhone 13 series are out of stock in a dozen of Apple Stores in Shanghai and two provinces in the Yangtze River Delta Zhejiang and Jiangsu, the largest economically active region in China, according to financial news media Yicai Media Group under Shanghai Media Group.

Only a few of iPhone 13s and 13 minis with smaller capacity are available while iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max are severely out of stock and it is these two latest premium models that face the longest delivery time for buyers, namely, about a month to reach consumers who order them right now, Yicai’s reporters learned from several Apple Stores in Shanghai. A consumer who pre-ordered in Apple’s website told the reporter that he has to wait until the end of October for an iPhone 13 Pro Max he ordered on September 28.

iPhone’s supply shortage has spread around the world due to issues including semiconductor supply chain disruption. Nikkei Asia earlier this week learned the reason that iPhone 13 models’ long-than-expected delivery time was the supply constraints of camera modules due to the new COVID wave in Vietnam where a large number of component parts were assembled.     

Analysts at JP Morgan and Credit Suisse expected consumers across the globe would have to wait for more than four weeks to take the models of iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max they pre-ordered online, even the basic version of iPhone 13 has to take about two weeks to pick up.

JP Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee noted another cause: increasing demand. “While admittedly part of the expansion in the lead times is on account of the supply chain constraints, we still find the material increase in the lead time in Week 2 relative to Week 1 as an indicator of the robust demand for upgrades, likely exceeding low investor expectations into the launch,” Chatterjee said.