Apple iPhone X pre-orders: expect to wait for delivery
Looking for an iPhone X? You may have to wait a while.
Half an hour after Apple (AAPL) opened pre-ordering for its newest iPhone, all models from all U.S. carriers had shipping times of four to five weeks, which means the devices will most likely reach consumers in December. Only consumers who pre-ordered within the first 10 minutes of the pre-order window, which began at 12:01 a.m. P.T. on Friday, secured shipping dates of Nov. 3, when the device will appear in stores, according to CNET.
The device sold out quickly when pre-ordering opened in Hong Kong and the U.K., Bloomberg reported. Customers in Britain were told they would have to wait as long as six weeks for availability.
The iPhone X (pronounced "ten"), which CNET called "Apple's largest, priciest, most ambitious iPhone," has a sharper screen, higher resolution, better cameras, an all-glass front and back and facial recognition technology that does away with the Home button. Called FaceID, the facial-recognition technology unlocks the phone, and swiping up takes the user to the home screen.
Apple also integrated a new OLED screen that stretches across the front of the display. The device has another new feature: a higher price. The iPhone X starts at $999, £999 or AU$1,579 for the 64GB model, while the 256GB iPhone X costs $1,149, £1,149 or AU$1,829.
For those who don't want to wait, Apple's new iPhone 8 will be available next week.
Apple's relying on the new iPhones to give it a boost. More than two-thirds of Apple's sales come from its popular phone, but iPhone sales dropped for the first time last year, partly due to consumers holding off on upgrading their phones and an overall slowdown in the phone market.
Last year marked the slowest growth rate for the phone industry since it began, and Apple's iPhone sales dropped for four straight quarters. Total industry shipments rose 2.5 percent to 1.47 billion, according to IDC, and they should increase only 1.7 percent this year. The firm expects phone shipments to keep growing through 2021, but the real boom days are over.
--With reporting by CNET.