Preorders for Apple's newest phone began at 12:01 a.m. PT Friday. Within the first 10 minutes, few models of the device were still available online for a Nov. 3 shipping date, the day the device hits stores.
Within about 10 minutes, the silver model from AT&T, for instance, wouldn't ship for two to three weeks after the launch date.
Within about half an hour, all models from all US carriers had ship times of four to five weeks.
In a reverse from previous years, Apple's store app appeared to be down for users for about 10 minutes. In the past, Apple's website hasn't loaded quickly, and only people accessing its iPhone and iPad app were able to preorder devices when sales began.
The iPhone X marks the first major redesign the phone has seen in years. Apple ditched its Touch ID home button and instead added its new Face ID facial recognition in the device. It 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.
The newly designed iPhone can't come soon enough. More than two-thirds of Apple's sales come from its popular phone, but iPhone sales dropped for the first time last year. Companies, Apple included, haven't been making dramatic changes to their devices, and people haven't been upgrading as often as before and the overall phone market has been slowing down.
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 just 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.
Apple tends to sell out of its newest devices fairly quickly. This year, it even warned customers to get to stores early if they hoped to buy an iPhone X on the day it becomes available. The company is believed to have a tight supply of its newest devices.
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