Some iPhone 14 release-day preorders reportedly delayed — here’s the new wait time

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iPhone 14 Pro preorders seemingly delayed as Apple struggles to meet demand

iPhone 14
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Update: As well as delays, iPhone 14 buyers are having to deal with release-day bugs.

Today is iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro release day, but the occasion has been spoiled for some eager buyers, with multiple reports of orders being delayed at the last minute. 

9to5Mac reports that multiple iPhone 14 preorders originally due to arrive on release day have been delayed by Apple at the 11th hour. While estimated delivery dates are just that, historically Apple is known for being fairly conservative with its estimated shipping times, preferring to advise buyers of a lengthy wait to get their hands on a new iPhone, before then beating that quote. 

However, this year it appears Apple has been a little optimistic about how many iPhone 14 units it would have available for launch day. The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are the models primarily affected, with the base iPhone 14 seemingly set to arrive on time for the majority of buyers. That's perhaps not a huge surprise, as a report earlier this week claimed preorder numbers for the base iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are soft. 

Multiple buyers who were originally set to receive their new iPhone 14 Pro on launch day have contacted 9to5Mac expressing frustration after their estimated delivery date slipped around a week to September 23. However, an unfortunate few have received a new ship date that could stretch as far as September 30, which is two weeks post-launch. 

iPhone 14's rocky rollout rumbles on

Of course, iPhone 14 preorders were a bit of a fiasco from the get-go this year, so it’s not too surprising that Apple has had to revise the delivery estimate on some orders. 

The Apple Store faced multiple outages last week when iPhone 14 preorders went live, and some customers reported a system glitch that resulted in them accidentally placing multiple orders. This latest hitch merely increases the feeling that this has been a somewhat rocky rollout of the new model.

If you’re currently without an iPhone 14 preorder and are looking to secure yourself the newest Apple smartphone, the latest delivery times make for fairly grim reading. While the base iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus (the latter scheduled for release on October 7) appear to be suffering minimal delays, a new order of the iPhone 14 Pro isn’t expected to arrive until October 24 at the latest. 

Delays to iPhone 14 Pro Max are even more severe, with the device's current estimated delivery date stretching until the very end of October, and even into November for shoppers in the U.K. 

Granted, new iPhone ranges traditionally experience some form of shipping delays, and this is especially true of the Pro models. Nevertheless, the iPhone 14 launch doesn’t appear to be running quite as smoothly as previous iterations of the device. 

Should these shipping delays stop you from buying a new iPhone? Perhaps not. Our iPhone 14 review, iPhone 14 Pro review and iPhone 14 Pro Max review explain exactly why these smartphones are worth the headache to secure.

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Rory Mellon
Rory Mellon
Senior Entertainment Editor (UK)

Rory is a Senior Entertainment Editor at Tom’s Guide based in the UK. He covers a wide range of topics but with a particular focus on gaming and streaming. When he’s not reviewing the latest games, searching for hidden gems on Netflix, or writing hot takes on new gaming hardware, TV shows and movies, he can be found attending music festivals and getting far too emotionally invested in his favorite football team.