As of writing this, 1:11 p.m. Central time, there are still many iPhone XRs available for home delivery or pick up through the Apple store.  I know that I said that I thought this phone would be an amazing seller, and I still stick to that, this isn’t the time to start declaring the death of the XR.

Stock

For one, we don’t know how much stock of the iPhone XR Apple made.  It had the extra month to produce and put phones together compared to the XS and XS Max.

Some models and colors are starting to be pushed back.  I’m sure the planning to have enough of the right colors and spaces is a difficult science, but it might be that Apple guessed correctly here and made plenty more of the higher demand phones.

The Red and Yellow XR on T-mobile has been pushed back to November 2 delivery dates.  So there are some phones that are going faster than others.

Still, you might think that if an iPhone doesn’t sell out that it is a flop.

Target market

The other thing about this phone is the target market.

This phone is not for the die-hard tech fan.  While it does have new chips and cameras, this model was made for the mass market more than the iPhone XS and Max phones.  The people that would normally be clamoring for a new iPhone model got to get the new phones last month.

I did expect more models to sell out honestly, but I’m not ready to call this a failure of a launch.  I think this model will be a slow burn.  I think over the lifespan of this device, it will outsell the iPhone XS because of the things I outlined in my post about the iPhone XR this week.

Unless someone’s old phone was busted, I don’t see them rushing to upgrade on pre-order day.  As more people switch services, break phones, or just run their last one to death I think the XR will be the option that most people move to.

For example, my parents are both still rocking the iPhone 6 Plus.  They have paid off their phones and while they probably could get a better phone, they don’t want to pay for one just yet.  This Christmas though, I am planning on moving them over to our cell phone plan and we will look to see what deals are out there and if it is worth it to upgrade.

Incentive

Compared to the iPhone XS, there doesn’t seem to be too many deals out there for upgrading to the XR.  Verizon is offering a buy-one-get-one plan if you upgrade and add a line of service,  but other than that there aren’t too many enticing offers.

It will be interesting to see if more deals start to pop-up between now and the holidays and what kinds of offers are out there.  I’m thinking that maybe companies didn’t know how to promote it since it’s a new type of iPhone that hasn’t really been released yet.

Wrap-up

Did you end up ordering an iPhone XR? What color did you choose?

I didn’t buy one since there wasn’t a sim-free version just yet.  Besides I would just be testing it out since I love my iPhone XS Max.

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