Unions at the Apple France stores have called for a strike on Friday and Saturday ahead of the iPhone 15 launch, demanding better pay and working conditions.

“Management having decided to ignore our perfectly legitimate demands and concerns, the four unions of Apple Retail France …call for a strike on September 22 and 23,” CGT Apple Retail said in a union front statement on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, buyers of Apple’s new iPhone 15 Pro Max in some countries, including China, Japan, and the United States, may have to wait until November to get the smartphone, an early sign of strong demand for the company as it started taking pre-orders on September 15.

The indications will likely ease some worries about demand for Apple’s flagship device after a slump in the global smartphone market sapped iPhone sales in the June quarter.

The four-to-five-week wait period for the Pro Max in China could also allay fears of a financial hit in Apple’s third-largest market amid growing competition from Huawei and Beijing’s widening curbs on iPhone use by government staff.

According to the Apple website, the wait is slightly shorter for the iPhone 15 Pro in China at two to three weeks.

It said it could deliver the iPhone on September 22, the day it goes on sale in stores.

In the top market, the United States, buyers will have to wait six to seven weeks before getting the Pro Max, the most expensive model in the iPhone 15 model line-up launched last week.

The wait is five to six weeks for the model in Japan.

But like China, the wait is shorter for the Pro model, with just two to three weeks for the 128GB version in the U.S. and Japan.

Some analysts said the long wait period also reflected the lower initial supply of Pro Max as Apple faced hurdles in securing supplies of the displays used in the model with thinner bezels than previous iPhones.

(Reuters/NAN)