Apple made a very big deal about the fact that the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will come in “jet black” at its unveiling of the phones last Wednesday. That big deal translated to jet black iPhones being completely sold out as of Thursday, one day before the phones officially go on sale.
So if you were hoping to walk into an Apple store on Friday, Sept. 16 and pick up one of those shiny black phones, you’re out of luck. (And you might want to get out of line now.)
And if you were willing to settle for a different color, you’ll have to also compromise on getting the iPhone 7, instead of the iPhone 7 Plus, as pre-order demand for the latter has been so high that there won’t be any available in stores.
An attempt to order a jet-black iPhone 7 Plus (128GB capacity) on the Apple site resulted in a shipping date of November. The regular iPhone 7 in the same finish is currently only available in the 128GB and 256GB capacities, and ships in three to five weeks.
There are a few possible reasons for the quick sellout: Demand could simply be higher because of new features like two cameras on the iPhone 7 Plus. It’s also conceivable that the initial batch produced was smaller than in previous iPhone releases.
Or perhaps all those people who bought the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, which is showing a propensity to explode and has been officially recalled by Samsung, are switching teams.
Whatever the reason, if you didn’t manage to pre-order that special shiny black iPhone 7, you’ll just have to wait.