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Apple’s new iPhone 7 flagship smartphones have been in such demand during preorders that the company is already sold out of its initial opening day supplies of the jet black iPhone 7 and all colors of its larger iPhone 7 Plus handsets as their Sept. 16 launch date looms.
The company announced the thinning supplies of some of the phone models in a statement released Sept. 14, according to BGR.com.
“We couldn’t be happier with the initial response to iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and we are looking forward to beginning sales through our retail stores and partners around the world,” Apple said in its statement. “Beginning Friday, limited quantities of iPhone 7 in silver, gold, rose gold, and black will be available for walk-in customers at Apple retail stores. During the online preorder period, initial quantities of iPhone 7 Plus in all finishes and iPhone 7 in jet black sold out and will not be available for walk-in customers. Availability at partner locations for all finishes may vary and we recommend checking directly with them.”
Apple is still taking orders for the new phones in all colors, but not all models and colors will be available when sales open in stores, the company added. “Customers can continue to order all models in all colors on Apple.com. We sincerely appreciate our customers’ patience as we work hard to get the new iPhone into the hands of everyone who wants one as quickly as possible.”
Apple did not respond to several email inquiries from eWEEK seeking comments on its brisk iPhone sales.
Preorder sales of the new handsets, which were publicly announced Sept. 7, have been steady and hot for mobile carriers including T-Mobile and Sprint, according to a recent eWEEK report. The handset preorders have already outranked previous iPhone preorder numbers at T-Mobile and set a single-day preorder sales record for any smartphone ever offered by T-Mobile.
T-Mobile’s preorders from Sept. 9 through Sept. 12 were nearly four times the level of the next most popular iPhone and are continuing to be strong, according to the carrier. T-Mobile said the iPhone preorder figures are the highest preorder numbers in its history, and its preregistrations for the iPhone 7 before preorders even opened also broke records for T-Mobile, exceeding preregistrations for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s handsets.
Sprint said it is also seeing soaring preorder rates for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which are up more than 375 percent in the first three days over last year’s release of the iPhone 6s models.
The latest iPhone 7 models, which start at $649, are splash-, water- and dust-resistant, include new 12-megapixel cameras (dual lens cameras in the iPhone 7 Plus model) and the new A10 Fusion processor. The handsets come in 32GB, 128GB or 256GB versions.
The new iPhones no longer include a headphone jack, however, and come with a set of ear buds that connect to the phones using the existing Lightning port. Apple’s new optional wireless AirPods sell for an additional $159 to allow users to go wireless, though other options also exist.
The iPhone 7 has a 4.7-inch Retina touch-screen display, while the iPhone 7 Plus uses a 5.5-inch Retina touch-screen display. Both handsets offer 4K video recording capabilities as well as autofocus and optical image stabilization features.
Apple’s latest iOS 10 mobile operating system, which is preloaded on the new iPhones, was released by Apple on Sept. 13 and is being pushed out to compatible devices.