iPhone availability improves substantially, supply not yet exhausted

On the evening of July 4th, all but two of Apple’s hundred-plus retail stores nationwide were sold out of iPhones, according to Apple’s own online reporting system. This led to widespread speculation that perhaps Apple’s seemingly endless supply of iPhones had finally been overtaken by unprecedented demand. However, as of the evening of July 5th, Apple is reporting that more than half of all Apple Stores in the United States currently have iPhones in stock.

iPhone supply is still clearly constrained, however, as Apple is reporting that none of its thirty-six California stores or twelve Texas stores have iPhones available. Still not clear from Apple’s self-reporting is whether these stores were sold out all day, or received new iPhone inventory during the course of the day and sold all of it.

With sources claiming that AT&T has activated more than one million iPhones to date, and Apple still delivering new iPhone stock to many if not all of its retail stores, one is led to wonder: just how many millions of iPhones did Apple mass-produce prior to the June 29th launch?