Stocks of Apple’s iPhone 6 line are running low in India, as the US vendor instead focuses on building up inventory to support its launch in the lucrative Chinese market, The Economic Times reported.

Citing an unnamed “head of a big electronics retail chain”, the report said that some stores have stopped taking iPhone 6 orders, due to distributors failing to commit to making supplies. Deliveries were described as “erratic”.

The paper also said that this means Apple’s management in the country has warned headquarters that it may be an “uphill task” to beat last year’s quarterly sales.

While China is an increasingly important market for Apple, it was a notable omission from the first tranche of markets to see availability of the device, due to delays achieving regulatory clearance.

But with sales in China now ongoing, it appears the company has shifted its emphasis from some other markets, with India apparently a casualty.

Apple has recently described the iPhone 6 launch as “the fastest iPhone rollout ever”, with the intention to have it available in more than 115 countries by the end of 2014.

But this comes with logistical challenges, and the need to balance supplies to meet demand as closely as possible.