With the holiday season almost upon us this was always going to be a busy time for smartphones but one in particular is amassing a huge amount of attention right now. The LG Nexus 4 phone is the latest Google Nexus phone and released only two days ago running the latest Android operating system, 4.2 Jelly Bean. This was a huge draw and sadly stocks of the Nexus 4 were sold out extremely quickly. It appears that Nexus 4 sales will be hectic for Christmas so let’s hope that Google gets plenty more supplies very soon.
On the day of the LG Nexus 4 release we spoke about how the Nexus 4 phone and also the Nexus 10 tablet were receiving an OTA update offering some extras. Even though this was very soon after the Nexus 4 went on sale through the Google Play Store we had comments from readers saying they were having trouble ordering it, with either the site crashing or being told the device was already sold out.
Further to this we posted an article explaining that both the 8GB and 16GB Nexus 4 were already sold out through Google Play only hours after the release and this made us wonder how many of the devices had actually been in stock ready for sale. Many of our readers commented on this and some were frustrated and disappointed by the numbers that Google actually had for sale. Of course it’s difficult to ascertain whether the shortages of the device were actually due to not enough being produced whilst erring on the side of caution, or whether the manufacturer and Google thought that they had plenty of stock but demand was so unprecedented that it soon turned out it had been wildly underestimated.
Looking at the Google Play Store today it’s no more promising. Again the product page for both the 8GB version and also 16GB version still show the LG Nexus 4 as sold out with a message saying “We are out of inventory. Please check back soon.” There’s no option to purchase with an estimated time of delivery, as you just have to keep checking for when it becomes available again. We’ve checked the UK store but this seems to be the case in many other regions too and so far there’s no indication at all of when Google expects the phone to be back in stock.
If you’re in the U.S there is an alternative as the Google Play Store was selling the Nexus 4 unlocked but the phone is now also being sold through T-Mobile on contract as we detailed here. T-Mobile USA is also selling an unlocked Nexus 4 but at a much higher price than through Google Play.
We would certainly imagine that at this very moment production of the Nexus 4 has been stepped up to the maximum but even if Google gets more stock in shortly it seems likely that it will quickly sell out again. One thing that Google really needs to get on top of though is concentrating on enough supplies of the Nexus 4 to cover the major Christmas rush as if stocks of the Nexus 4 continue to be scarce then there are likely to be a lot of disappointed consumers out there. It would be a shame if the fact the unlocked Nexus 4 is so reasonable priced through Google Play (at only £239/$299 for the 8GB model or £279/$349 for the 16GB), leads to criticism about its non-availability though.
We’d like to hear from readers about the Nexus 4 and the lack of stock. Did you manage to get yours straightaway or are you one of the many who have yet to make your purchase? Does the lack of any availability date frustrate you? Send your comments to let us know.