Thousands of Customers Waiting in Line at Apple Retail Stores for iPhone XS, XS Max and Apple Watch Series 4 as Global Launch Continues

iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and Apple Watch Series 4 have started rolling out in Australia and New Zealand where it is after 8:00 a.m. on Friday, September 21, and in other countries, as the launch date approaches, customers are queueing up with the hopes of purchasing one of Apple's new devices.

At the Orchard Road store in Singapore, where the new smartphones and watches will be available in a few hours, hundreds of people are waiting and have been camped out since much earlier in the day.

appleorchardroad


It's hot in Singapore, so potential customers have been provided with numbered wristbands to mark their place in line and are allowed to leave for up to one hour for meal breaks.


There's a similar scene at Apple's Berlin store, where customers have been lining up overnight. Berlin customers still have several hours to wait before the new devices are available in the country.


Customers in Austria are also lining up to get an iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max, but with hours to go, the line is still small.

Most U.S. stores don't appear to have significant lines, but people will likely start lining up late at night as the launch date approaches.

Apple's iPhone XS and XS Max were not particularly constrained when pre-orders launched, but some iPhone XS Max models began selling out for launch day shipments within about a half hour of when pre-orders went live. Apple Watch Series 4 models were harder to come by and sold out quickly.

Orders placed for iPhone XS, XS Max, and Apple Watch orders from Apple today will not ship out until October, which is likely why many customers are trying their luck waiting in line for a walk-in purchase.

Customers in the United States who did not pre-order and who are hoping for a launch day device should get to an Apple retail store or carrier store as early as possible.

Are you planning to wait in line for an Apple device this year? Let us know in the comments.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 11
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected [Updated]

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
maxresdefault

iOS 26 Code Leak Reveals Apple Smart Home Hub Details

Thursday December 11, 2025 4:02 pm PST by
Apple is working on a smart home hub that will rely heavily on the more capable version of Siri that's coming next year. We've heard quite a bit about the hub over the last two years, but a recent iOS 26 code leak provides additional insight into what we can expect and confirms rumored features. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Macworld claims to have access to an ...

Top Rated Comments

droog Avatar
94 months ago
People still do this? Yikes...
Score: 75 Votes (Like | Disagree)
yaxomoxay Avatar
94 months ago
Waiting in line for a phone or watch, it's just sad.
No it’s not. I wouldn’t do it, but it’s not sad. It’s what they want to do, with their free time, and they will use their money for it. Some people stay in line for hours to watch a football game (which may be even on TV) or a concert, and some people will even pay otrageous amounts for it.
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Reapro Avatar
94 months ago
Waiting in line for a phone or watch, it's just sad.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrGimper Avatar
94 months ago
Stop dissing people who queue. I don’t personally, but people do and it’s up to them. Many like the shared experience and the fun of doing it. Why go to a live sports game when you can watch it on TV...
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
94 months ago
I want to see someone in line with a notch haircut. Pretty please?
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
madKIR Avatar
94 months ago
Next year the new iPhone at only $1999 lol
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)