T-Mobile US CFO Braxton Carter said demand for the iPhone X is expected to rollover into Q1 2018 as a result of limited supply in the current holiday quarter.

At an investor conference Carter indicated the operator experienced “great demand” for Apple’s flagship smartphone from consumers and “more supply than we anticipated”. Despite this, the executive said “going into the holiday season we do think we will still be overall supply constrained,” hence the likely rollover.

Carter explained flagship smartphone launches present the perfect opportunity for consumers to assess their device and operator options. As the operator was the last in the US to get the iPhone and holds the smallest embedded subscriber base, Carter said T-Mobile is uniquely positioned to take advantage of upgrade decisions to create more switching.

The CFO added T-Mobile is already reaping the benefits of switchers coming in for promotions around the iPhone X. Fourth quarter porting ratios to date are “up significantly” against all carriers, he said. Halfway through Q4, Carter noted the overall porting ratio stands at 1.73 per cent, which compares favourably to a ratio of 1.53 per cent for the full Q4 2016.

Over the past two years, the only porting ratio higher than the current Q4 figure came in Q1 2017, which stood at 1.89 per cent.