You can put your hands on a new iPhone 14 Pro today. Photo: Apple
The time when iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max buyers could expect a long wait to get Apple’s latest are over. The top-of-the-line iOS handsets can now be ordered from the Apple store for next-day delivery.
That’s a far cry from last fall when the wait stretched out over a month.
iPhone 14 Pro wait time is gone
A new product strategy by Apple increased demand for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max at the expense of less expensive versions. The Pro models have always offered more features than the cheaper options, but Apple made the differences more stark in the latest offerings. The Pro and Pro Max have a faster processor, better cameras and the Dynamic Island.
That should have been a win for Apple – the pricier models are more profitable – but then government-mandated COVID-19 restriction in China this autumn put the world’s largest iPhone factory in China into total lockdown. That slowed assembly of iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
The result was long wait times. By mid-November, it was already too late to order the top-tier models in time for Christmas or Hanukkah delivery.
But the lockdown was lifted in late November, and Apple and its partner Foxconn have now caught up with backorders.
Order for delivery tomorrow
An order placed Monday from the U.S. online Apple store for any iPhone 14 Pro configuration can be delivered tomorrow, January 16, 2023. The same is true for the iPhone Pro Max.
Plus, spot checks done by Cult of Mac found the handsets in stock for ready for pickup of Apple retail stores around the United States.
If anyone has been holding off buying an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, now is the time. Especially as it’s possible huge a COVID outbreak in China will again reduced the supply.