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.
Thursday November 27, 2025 1:01 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's online store is going down for a few hours on a rolling country-by-country basis right now, but do not get your hopes up for new products.
Apple takes its online store down for a few hours ahead of Black Friday every year to tease/prepare for its annual gift card offer with the purchase of select products. The store already went down and came back online in Australia and New Zealand, ...
Tuesday November 25, 2025 7:16 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple recently teamed up with Japanese fashion brand ISSEY MIYAKE to create the iPhone Pocket, a limited-edition knitted accessory designed to carry an iPhone. However, it is now completely sold out in all countries where it was released.
iPhone Pocket became available to order on Apple's online store starting Friday, November 14, in the United States, France, China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, ...
Friday November 28, 2025 7:33 am PST by Joe Rossignol
While all Macs are now powered by Apple's custom-designed chips, a new rumor claims that Apple may rekindle its partnership with Intel, albeit in a new and limited way.
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today said Intel is expected to begin shipping Apple's lowest-end M-series chip as early as mid-2027.
Kuo said Apple plans to utilize Intel's 18A process, which is the "earliest...
We've been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Apple TV, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and more.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When...
Tuesday November 25, 2025 7:09 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in fall 2026, and it's shaping up to include three standout features that could set it apart from the competition.
The book-style foldable will reportedly feature an industry-first 24-megapixel under-display camera built into the inner display, according to a recent JP Morgan equity research report. That...
Thursday November 27, 2025 3:14 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's disappointing iPhone Air sales are causing major Chinese mobile vendors to scrap or freeze their own ultra-thin phone projects, according to reports coming out of Asia.
Since the iPhone Air launched in September, there have been reports of poor sales and manufacturing cuts, while Apple's supply chain has scaled back shipments and production.
Apple supplier Foxconn has...
Cellular carriers have always offered big savings on the newest iPhone models during the holidays, and Black Friday 2025 sales have kicked off at AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and more. Right now we're tracking notable offers on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air. For even more savings, keep an eye on older models during the holiday shopping season.
Note: MacRumors is...
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.
