Less than one hour after beginning to offer online orders for the iPhone 5s, the Apple Store is already seeing significant delivery delays for some models, particularly gold iPhone 5s units and contract-free T-Mobile phones. Regardless of capacity, the gold iPhone 5s is currently listed with October shipment dates, while the AT&T Space Gray color is on a 7-10 day shipment delay in 64GB capacity; all Space Gray and silver capacities are on 7-10 day delays through T-Mobile.
Notably, Apple is not offering iPhone 5s pick-up options at its retail stores at this time. Orders placed immediately after Apple began online iPhone 5s sales were being offered for September 30 to October 2 standard delivery, with the option of upgrading to faster September 27 to October 1 delivery for a fee.
The limited online availability appears to confirm reports that Apple has experienced difficulties in the iPhone 5s manufacturing process, specifically with the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, and was unable to produce adequate supplies of the phone to meet anticipated initial demand.
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