iPhone 4S Preorders Delayed At Verizon, AT&T, And Sprint

The iPhone 4S is scheduled to hit retail stores on October 14. Already, extremely high demand for the new iPhone has caused shipping delays for preorder units from Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint.

According to a report from Bloomberg BusinessWeek, "Apple Inc.’s latest iPhone has sold out for pre-order at AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp." However, a spokesperson for Verizon told the Huffington Post that customers can still buy phones from the carrier's website--you'll just have to wait a while for your order to ship. The Verizon Wireless website informs customers that preordered devices will ship by October 27, rather than on October 14, when the phone launches.

A slightly lengthier shipping estimate was given by AT&T. A representative for the company told The Hufffington Post that customers looking to place preorders should to expect delays between 21 and 28 days before the device ships.

Unlike the other carriers, Sprint, which is making its iPhone debut with the 4S, is not taking backorders for the 4S. A representative for the carrier told the Huffington Post via email that "the 16GB iPhone 4S in white and black is sold out for pre-order," although it will be available in stores on October 14. As of this writing, Sprint still has 32GB and 64GB iPhone 4S's available for preorder on Sprint's website.

Apple's own shipping estimates seem to run counter to estimates provided by wireless carriers. Apple's website estimates that preorders will ship from AT&T, Verizon and Sprint in "1-2 weeks," significantly shorter than 21-28 day wait reported by AT&T.

When preorders opened on October 7, Apple reportedly sold more than 1 million 4S’s in 24 hours, far surpassing the previous record of 600,000 iPhone 4's sold in the same time period.

DigiTimes reports that, based on an article in Chinese-language newspaper, Apple has already ordered manufacturing partner Pegatron Technology to add another 5 million phones to the 10 million they had already ordered.

Overwhelmed carriers and backed-up orders are nothing new for Apple devices. When the iPhone 4 launched in 2010, AT&T had to stop taking preorders after one day so they could focus on fulfilling the orders that had been received in the first 24 hours. At the time, the iPhone was exclusive to AT&T. This is the first iPhone launch where customers can get the phone from multiple carriers.

When the iPad 2 was released in March, it sold out within days and customers had to wait 4-5 weeks to get their iPad fix. The second generation of Apple's tablet reportedly sold 1 million units in its opening weekend.

Comments

[Pete Zock]

06:19 PM on 10/15/2011

So is it possible to just cancel your credit card/bank card and it will cancel the pre-order? Because after I preordered the phone on 10/7, I received a new bank card. I haven't activated that card yet because I am waiting on this preorder to go through. So if I go ahead and cancel my current card and activate my new card, could that work? Regardless, my current card will be deactivated very soon so I am not sure what will happen.

[drfast]

08:38 AM on 10/15/2011

I had no problem getting my pre-order from Sprint...came in the mail yesterday!!!!

[shankapotomus]

06:33 PM on 10/14/2011

Hope no libs buy one i would had for them to hypocritical about the rich.

[drfast]

08:38 AM on 10/15/2011

this doesn't make sense. What does politics have to do with buying an iphone?

[shankapotomus]

08:52 AM on 10/15/2011

You people sit there everyday and talk about how you hate the rich when you're the very ones making them rich.

[Julie DeFrancesco]

05:24 PM on 10/14/2011

How can pricey iPhones sell out when other retailers are practically begging customers to buy with layaway? Find out at www.popnology.com

[justandra]

01:10 PM on 10/14/2011

My 4S just arrived this am. I'm glad I ordered mine on Day One. The funny part is since I upgraded my 3GS to iOS5 and my iPad, I still get text on those along with my 4S. BTW, Siri is great!

[CaptainObvvious]

10:41 AM on 10/14/2011

As I understand it those companies say right on the site they can't guarantee stock for preorders.

I ordered mine through Apple.com and they DO... I ordered it at 5pm eastern last Friday and it is out for delivery UPS right now.

Always go through Apple for preorders... Always!

[mairs]

12:28 PM on 10/14/2011

That's a good idea. I ordered mine from Verizon on the 11th when my contract was up and they gave me an Oct. 21 delivery date.

[Gfoxxx]

10:33 AM on 10/14/2011

Ordered mine from Verizon & it is scheduled to arrive via Fedex this afternoon.

[Mprior1224]

11:46 AM on 10/14/2011

When did you put your order in?

[bryanzth]

10:32 AM on 10/14/2011

Sold out? Oh my, that's disappointing! ;0)

BZ.

[mokachyna]

10:08 AM on 10/14/2011

So am I going to be able to walk into Best Buy tomorrow and buy mine?

[onlythetruthcounts]

06:12 AM on 10/14/2011

White 64GB gonna be here (to me) the 21st or sooner according to Verizon.

[ThirdWorldAmerika]

02:03 AM on 10/14/2011

Mine is being shipped by the end of the day tomorrow! It'll definitely be a decent upgrade from my 2 1/2 year old 3GS.

[speedntktz]

04:54 AM on 10/14/2011

Even better upgrade for someone with an even older 3G. Will be waiting for UPS all day Friday.

[david tsg]

11:16 PM on 10/13/2011

I got screwed by ATT. Order on the 7th and they failed http://goo.gl/W9sb2

[ThirdWorldAmerika]

02:04 AM on 10/14/2011

I had a feeling that would happen through one of the phone companies; so I pre-ordered mine via the apple store. Apple tends to run their business more smoothly than ATT.

[Mprior1224]

11:49 AM on 10/14/2011

I ordered mine on the 7th as well. I just spoke with someone who ordered theirs from Verizon on Sunday. 2 full days after I placed my order and they have received their phone today (10/14/11) while mine hasn't shipped and doesn't seem like they plan to any time soon.

[imonlyhereforthelaughs]

04:18 PM on 10/13/2011

This is why I never preorder anything.

[blueken]

04:14 PM on 10/13/2011

Nothing against this particular unit, I'm am just sick to death of hand helds. I'm sick to death of people takeing them out over lunch, dinner, meetings, and social events. I have been an IT pro for 30 years. At one time I had hoped that computers were going to bring people closer together, more creative. That ain't what I'm seeing. All I'm seeing is anoying distractions. By the way, in the next few years all those cloud applications that run business are going to bog down while people watch movies and listen to music on their phones and the internet's bandwidth is consumed for things better done on other devices. Glad I'm almost through with it all.

[SteveDenver]

07:58 PM on 10/13/2011

I know how you feel. It's as if all these gadgets have isolated people. Read an article that said an estimated 25% of people under 40 who appear to be on their cell phones in public are listening to music or nothing at all. They assume a posture that is unapproachable, so nobody will interrupt them.

When I started graphic design, I knew printers, took proofs to clients, new camera operators and pressmen. Now everything is PDFs via email and I never see anyone. Ick.

[ThirdWorldAmerika]

02:05 AM on 10/14/2011

Wait until the contact lens computer becomes the norm in 20-30 years. And yes, it will become a reality.

[KarateKid]

02:22 PM on 10/13/2011

The Apple h8ers must be seething......

[dropthedh]

04:50 PM on 10/13/2011

Are you referring to those underpaid, overworked assembly-line workers toiling over the silly gadget for pennies and hour so we can hold the price down to a couple of hundred dollars?

[Mydian01]

05:48 PM on 10/13/2011

you want to change apples practices, you should work on the whole system.. all electronics are manufactured in china or indonesia.. so you should lobby congress to end the free-trade agreements, and renegotiate our trade agreement with china in particular, make it more financially feasible for manufacturing in america so you will stop whining about apple.. and thats what it sounds like, your whining.

[bardgal]

07:52 PM on 10/13/2011

Apple doesn't have a monopoly on cheap labor. Everything we use here in the USA is made by cheap labor overseas.

[airmikee99]

05:38 PM on 10/13/2011

Apple haters are seething because Apple had to delay shipment of their latest device?

You either don't understand the definition of 'hater' or 'seething', possibly neither.

[Pectin]

11:04 PM on 10/13/2011

You obviously don't understand the reasons for the delay.