Apple's newly-announced iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have officially gone up for pre-order on Friday, Sept. 12, but shipping estimates are already slipping due to high demand.
Just several hours after Apple started accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple Store estimates for shipping new orders have now slipped beyond their original Sept. 19 delivery date in the U.S.
The larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus seems to be in greater demand, and shipping estimates for this model have slipped to 3-4 weeks, which means that availability has been pushed back to October. Interested buyers may still be able to get some configurations of the iPhone 6 Plus for in-store pickup on launch day, i.e. Sept. 19, but availability may vary greatly depending on location.
The 4.7-inch iPhone 6, meanwhile, remains in strong supply, at least for now, with most colors and configurations still listed as shipping on Sept. 19.
The new iPhones' launch has been quite rocky overall, as many interested customers were unable to access the Apple Store or the app on both the iPhone and the iPad, with frequent crashes and errors marring the experience. Apple's own online store only went live more than an hour after the target midnight pre-order start time, and has been down quite a lot since then.
As expected, carriers are also experiencing supply issues with the new iPhones. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have started taking pre-orders for the devices, while T-Mobile lists the pre-order date as Sept. 12 but has yet to kick things off. For now, T-Mobile's website still shows only pre-registration options at the time of writing. The 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus faces limited availability from carriers as well. AT&T has pushed its shipping estimate to between 35 and 42 business days (at the time of writing), and Verizon saying it will ship models by Oct. 14 - 21, depending on model. Sprint, meanwhile, says it will ship the 64GB and 128GB iPhone 6 Plus models in up to three weeks, and the 16GB model in 4-6 weeks.
As a reminder, the iPhone 6 comes in 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacities for $199, $299, and $399, respectively, on-contract, and starts at $649 contract-free. The iPhone 6 Plus comes in the same 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB internal storage configurations and costs $299, $399, and $499, respectively, on-contract, and starts at $749 contract-free. For more details, check out Apple's website at this link.
