Just hours after pre-orders began, shipping estimates for new iPhone 4S orders placed through Apple's online stores in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK have slipped to 1-2 weeks from the initial "by October 14th" estimate. Shipping estimates through Apple remain at October 14th in the United States, while the company is not offering online sales in Japan.
Current shipping estimates in Apple's Canadian online store
Apple and its carrier partners began pre-orders around midnight Pacific Time, although Apple's and AT&T's sites didn't come up for orders until about 40 minutes after the scheduled launch time. And even after pre-orders came up on Apple's site, users had significant difficulty getting through. Much of the bottleneck appeared to be related to verifying eligibility and plans through AT&T, with the purchasing process repeatedly hanging and resulting in errors for many users.
iPhone 4S reservation issued due to problems with carrier processing
Apple eventually shut down its iPhone pre-order system for a brief period of time, bringing it back up to issue reservations that would allow users to return later to verify eligibility and select their service plans. Apple has begun notifying users who placed early reservations that they may now return to apple.com to complete their orders, and that they must complete the process by 5:00 PM Pacific Time tomorrow in order maintain their priority order status.
Friday February 14, 2025 6:18 am PST by Joe Rossignol
The first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner, and the update is expected to include many new features and changes.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the iOS 18.4 beta to be released by next week.
Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far.
Apple Intelligence for Siri
Siri is expected to get several enhancements powered by Apple Intelligence on iOS...
Thursday February 13, 2025 11:48 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple has yet to announce any new devices this year, but that could change starting next week.
Apple CEO Tim Cook today said to "get ready" for a "launch" on Wednesday, February 19.
"Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," said Cook, in a social media post. The post includes an #AppleLaunch hashtag, along with a short video featuring an animated Apple logo inside of a circle....
Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19.
"Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag.
The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle.
Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
Thursday February 13, 2025 5:49 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro will feature three rear cameras arranged in a familiar triangular layout, but the cameras will be housed in an all-new rectangular camera bar with rounded corners, according to YouTube channel Front Page Tech.
iPhone 17 Pro camera design render created by Asher for Front Page Tech
In a video uploaded today, Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser said the camera ...
Wednesday February 12, 2025 6:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
As the wait continues for Apple's long-rumored, fourth-generation iPhone SE, French electronics retailer Boulanger has prematurely published a product listing for a "new" model of the iPhone SE. The placeholder page says the device is "coming soon," but it offers no further information, and the price shown is obviously not real.
The listing was spotted by a reader of the French technology...
Thursday February 13, 2025 6:20 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple this week began selling refurbished Mac mini models with the M4 chip for the first time, but this has led to a pricing conundrum.
In the United States, Apple is offering a refurbished Mac mini with the base M4 chip, 256GB of storage, 16GB of RAM, and Gigabit Ethernet for $509, down from $599 new. This is the standard 15% discount that Apple offers on refurbished Macs.
The issue is...
Thursday February 13, 2025 2:45 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Last year, Apple tweaked iPhone 16 Pro screen sizes to make them bigger than 2023's iPhone 15 Pro models, and this year we are also expecting a change in the size of the displays in the iPhone 17 lineup. Here's what we know.
Standard iPhone 17
Apple could introduce a new display size for the standard iPhone 17 model in 2025. The iPhone 17 could measure in at 6.3 inches, up from 6.1 inches,...
Friday February 14, 2025 3:41 am PST by Tim Hardwick
There have been several alleged leaked details of the iPhone 17 Air, Apple's rumored new slim iPhone, but images have been limited to grainy shots taken in component factories. However, this hyper-realistic concept created by WEIS Studio gives us the best idea yet of what Apple's thin device might actually look like.
The concept design is inspired by recent leaks indicating that the device...
I thought people didn't like the 4S. What happened?
Read the comments: lots of people with iPhone 3s are updating. Their plan cycle is up and they are stepping up to the latest & greatest available from Apple. Had it been an iPhone 5, they would be doing this too... not because a "5" is necessarily better than a "4s" but just because it was time for an update and this is the latest iPhone available. If Apple had said "no new iPhone this year; we're sticking with the 4 (inside & out)" I suspect many of these same iPhone 3 people would still upgrade anyway to a "4" as it is just a natural outcome of their contracts ending.
I think the griping and "not liking it" is a lot of people with expectations of major design updates every year fueled by the delay by several additional months beyond the "normal" launch time and the usual hype-a-rama machine of rumors. And some of these are "4" owners who don't care about cost inefficiencies and/or extended contract terms from renewing hardware before the normal contract term cycle.
Personally, I think Apple should have called this one a "5" as I suspect a lot of the gripes were attached to an idea of a name (number). Sure, if it was branded the "5" the gripes would have been that it looks exactly the same as a "4". But those needing to brag about owning the latest gadget could have got their "5" instead of having to emphasize the "S" in 4s.
Functionally, it has the latest & greatest guts available from Apple. Yes, the rumored bigger screen was an interesting possibility and a new body shape would help those who need to brag show they have a "5" without having to say they have a "5". But otherwise, Apple took the latest horsepower & guts they have and put them in the same shell with the same-sized screen. The braggers will just have to emphasize the "S" or wait out the next iPhone. For those that care about their spending, maybe the next one will arrive right about the time their 2-year deal on the "4" is about to end, so they can do what these "3" people are doing and not waste extra money for their next upgrade?
IMO, it was a waste to wake up early this morning (2:45 EDT), I couldn't get my order in through Apple due to ATT's FAN premier site being down. That along with the fact that Apple was delayed 43 minutes in opening up the store, I went back to bed. Woke up this morning and got my order in on the Apple site within two minutes. Got a confirmation email and not one of those bogus reserve ones. Never staying up again. :)
Mines coming between the 21st-28th, so excited! Got in there before the Shipping Estimates went up, which they inevitably will.
All the people complaining about the new iPhone 4S, this is the biggest spec bump the iPhone has ever seen.
iPhone 2G+3G = 400Mhz Processor + 128MB RAM + 2MP Camera iPhone 3GS = 600Mhz Processor + 256MB of RAM + 3MP Camera iPhone 4 = 800Mhz Processor + 512MB of RAM + 5MP Camera iPhone 4S = 2 x 800Mhz Cores + (Supposedly) 1GB of RAM + 8MP Camera
This is the biggest leap in the iPhones specs ever. If it was in a new different case, most of the complainers here would be crapping themselves in giddy excitement as they trip over each over in the stampede to buy it.
The £600 ($930) price tag for the 32GB stung a little bit though, but I wanted the extra space for the bigger file sized pictures and 1080p video.
