iPhone 6s release: Deliveries could be delayed by Pope Francis visit to America

Delivery vans are getting stuck because of the Pope's security arrangements

A journalist takes with his mobile phone a picture of Pope Francis during a press conference on July 13, 2015, onboard a plane on his way back to Rome from Paraguay, the final stop of his South America tour (VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images)

This week will see two of the year’s biggest arrivals in the US: Pope Francis’s visit to America, and the release of the iPhone 6s. And this time the Pope has won.

Deliveries of Apple’s new phones are likely to be held up for many in America because the Pope’s security arrangements are going to clog up the streets, stopping deliveries getting through to people in Washington DC, New York City and Philadelphia.

The new iPhones are scheduled for release on Friday, September 25. But they might not arrive in some postcodes until the following week, because of the disruption.

UPS has said that it the postcodes in Washington DC will not be served between Tuesday and Thursday, which could mean that the phones will get through in time. But in New York City the disruption covers Thursday and Friday, and in Philadelphia the company will be unable to deliver to some addresses on Friday and Saturday.

Apple has said that phones that have been ordered for pickup from real shops will still be available on Friday. Shops will also be selling phones to those that haven’t been reserved, with doors opening at 8am but queues likely forming long before that.

Ordering most versions of the phone now will mean waiting for at least a week, according to the Apple Store website. Apple has said that it expects the release of the new phones to break the records set by their predecessors, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, and that demand appears to have led to delays on many models.

Apple revealed the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus at an event earlier this month. They feature big upgrades to the camera and a pressure-sensitive display.