[throwaway_Bees]

>None of the local Verizon stores had any phones (11 Pro Max) in stock (they explicitly said it was due to China supply chain)

That may be true...but it may be just as likely they are minimizing their own inventory to keep their own costs down/cash on hand, which is not something they would freely tell their own employees or customers.

[jedberg]

I've heard that new Apple employees aren't getting any equipment because they don't have any to give.

I ordered an Apple watch on March 3rd and it won't arrive until March 24th.

I'm pretty sure they are having serious supply chain issues.

[hef19898]

Everybody has. There is Chinese New Year, always surprising companies exporting from China every year like Christmas, and than at the same time Corona. Now there is a huge backlog of produced goods in Chinese ports, a huge order backlog at Chinese manufacturers amyd not enough shipping and production capacity. Ultimately things will revert to normal, so. That Corona is now hitting the destinations of these backlogs doesn't help, obviously.

[Scoundreller]

My thought is that cargo capacity is down a lot without passenger jets flying around.

And cargo operations staff may be reluctant to fly to China.

Staff wouldn’t be permitted to stay on the aircraft until takeoff. And would likely violate hours of service anyway.

[bdcravens]

Perhaps. They did tell me they could get me one as fast as Fedex could get it to me (probably a couple of days). If there is constrained stock, centralizing inventory probably makes the most sense.

Alternate theory: I spoke to someone who works at a Cricket. They never keep higher end phones in stock, as they are frequent robbery targets (though I often see armed security at larger carrier stores).

[Spooky23]

Verizon will hold inventory for priority customers once the parts are constrained upstream. Your state/local .gov and some medical users will get priority access to inventory.

[AgloeDreams]

Apple has already stated in their disclosures that they expect serve impact on their iPhone sales due to supply constraints.

[spott]

or a combination of the two: Verizon keeps less stock on hand in general, and they ran out of theirs, while Best Buy had a larger backstock and so could still sell theirs.