US consumers now only have to wait between three and five days to receive a delivery of the new iPad, after the company updated shipping times on the Apple Store to reflect the slight change.
Apple had previously reduced shipping times from between 1-2 weeks on March 20, then showing availability of between 5-7 days exactly a month later. However, shipping times are fluctuating across the world, with UK consumers currently facing a wait of between 1-2 weeks.
The company has been battling supply shortages (as noted by Apple CEO Tim Cook in the company’s recent quarterly earnings call), plus the fact the company is literally shipping every unit it receives.
Apple officially sold over 3 million new iPads in the three days following its launch, with customers rushing to preorder the new iPad and bringing Apple’s website to its knees. This pushed delivery times for the iPad back to between 2-3 weeks, as Apple looked to ensure it had enough stock to fulfil orders in the 10 countries where it first launched.
The tablet has recently gone on sale in 21 new countries, including Asian city-state Brunei, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, St Maarten, Uruguay, Venezuela, Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa and Thailand. This could explain why waiting times are higher in some regions than others.
The company has been able to maintain supplies in its retail stores but took over a month to reduce US online iPad availability to under a week.
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