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Walmart ran out of Black Friday iPhone deals early, and customers were not happy

Updated Nov 23rd, 2018 10:26AM EST
Walmart Black Friday 2018
Image: SquareTrade

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iPhones are at the top of the wish list for many people every Black Friday, and retailers battle each other with all sorts of interesting deals on Apple’s flagship product. This year, several retailers have advertised iPhone deals that covered the latest iPhone models, with Walmart being one of the companies that proposed a few impressive discounts on 2018 and 2017 iPhones. But shoppers who came in early to take advantage of the deals quickly discovered that not all stores stocked enough devices to meet demand.

These are the various iPhone deals Walmart advertised in the Black Friday 2018 flyer:

As you can see, the list includes discounts on all the three iPhones Apple launched in September, including the iPhone XS Max, iPhone XS, and iPhone XR, but also plenty of older devices, including the iPhone 8 and first-gen iPhone X handset. Even though some of these iPhone deals require a device payment contract with a top carrier, they’re still exciting, especially to buyers planning to buy new phones with those carriers via device payment plans.

Walmart, however, did not have enough iPhone stock in several locations, and Business Insider was the first to notice complaints on social media from shoppers who were not able to score their desired iPhone deal in Walmart stores.

One of the problems seems to be the lack of information, as customers had no way of knowing which Walmart locations would stock certain iPhone models:

And there were cases where Walmart staff seemed unable to help:

Others complained that there wasn’t enough stock per store:

Come Cyber Monday, Walmart will have only two deals for iPhone buyers, both covering last year’s iPhone 8 phones, as follows:

If you want to buy a discounted unlocked new iPhone, eBay might the place to go. Also, check out all the other iPhone promotions announced for Black Friday at this link.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.