Long Lines Persist for iPhone 4, Second Round of Pre-Orders Shipping

Friday morning at Regent Street, London. Photo by
Rob SmithLong lines persist for the iPhone 4 a full day after its official launch day. The photo above was taken at the Regent Street Apple Store in London this morning.
Meanwhile, we've heard that the second round of iPhone pre-orders have begun shipping ahead of schedule. Customers who ordered the iPhone 4 from Apple after the initial batch sold out were originally quoted a July 2nd ship date, but some of those customers have now started receiving shipping notifications.
The continued strong demand bolsters analysts' recent estimates of blockbuster opening weekend sales. Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster estimated yesterday that Apple will move 1.0-1.5 million iPhone over the first three days of availability. Oppenheimer's Yair Reiner followed up with a more bullish claim of as many as 1.5 million iPhones sold on the first day alone, presumably including those that shipped to customers a day or two early.
Apple reported after last year's launch weekend for the iPhone 3GS that it had sold "over one million" units in the first three days of availability. Given claims of substantially increased pre-order increase over last year and reports of Apple's longest lines ever for launch day sales, it certainly seems likely that the company will eclipse last year's performance.
Popular Stories
Apple today announced a new subscription initiative that turns paid iCloud+ subscriptions into a broader services bundle in more than 100 countries.
In select countries, Apple says every paid iCloud+ plan, including the cheapest 50GB tier, now includes Apple TV and Apple Arcade "at no additional cost," while family sharing extends the storage, TV and Arcade access to up to five people....
Apple released iOS 27 this week, and despite the company's focus this year on refining its flagship operating system and nixing bugs, there are still many additional features to explore, not least of which is Apple's new context-aware Siri, re-tooled for the generative AI era.
Which iPhones Support Every iOS 27 Feature?
This year's major iPhone software update isn't all about AI, though,...
Update — 10 a.m. Pacific Time: Apple has released iOS 27.
During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14.
iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update.
Below, we have highlighted eight new features and...