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Justin Denison, senior vice president of product strategy at Samsung, speaks about the during new Samsung Galaxy Note8 smartphone during a launch event for the product, August 23, 2017 in New York City.
“If you have consumers that place orders in early November, and they can’t get a phone until 2018, then I think it matters,” Sacconaghi said. “There are other attractive offerings out there. And while ecosystem loyalty is high, if you were hoping to get this great new phone in September, and now you’re waiting until 2018, I think you’ll get …. switchers.”
To be sure, there’s no clear signs that would happen. Apple told CNBC on Tuesday that it had built each phones’ shipping date into its forecasts.
The iPhone 7 Plus, especially in jet black, did get a little scarce last year, though. At that time, 17 percent of consumers said they would immediately seek out alternatives during a shortage of their favorite electronics brand, according to a survey of more than 2,000 consumers from supply chain start-up Elementum.
Although Apple’s iPhone X certainly amped up existing technology, many of its core elements, like a more vivid screen, are also available on Samsung phones.