Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

iPhone 7: Apple opens pre-orders for new handset, Jet Black version immediately sells out

Apple won’t be telling people how sales go for this iPhone – but they’re looking good

Andrew Griffin
Friday 09 September 2016 08:51 BST
Comments
The new iPhone 7 and a pair of AirPods
The new iPhone 7 and a pair of AirPods

It’s now almost impossible to buy many models of the new iPhone, leaving people waiting until November.

The Jet Black iPhone 7, new this year, seems to be particularly helping the handsets to fly off the shelves. That phone isn’t available for weeks and the shipping estimates on the Apple Store are quickly getting longer and longer.

Demand for the new phone – apparently driven by that glossy black phone – even seemed to cause some problems for the Apple Store, with customers reporting online that they weren’t able to get on.

Apple opened pre-orders for its new iPhone today, ahead of their release on 16 September. The new phone was revealed at an event this week.

It comes in much the same design as the iPhone 6, apart from two new colours – normal black and the highly popular, glossy Jet Black.

Apple is only offering the glossy black colour on the more expensive, higher capacity versions of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. It isn’t clear how much that decision was motivated by the colour being low in supply, because it’s harder to make, and how much it was an intentional move to make the new colour seem more exclusive.

But either way it seems to have worked, as availability of the new phone dwindles. In the UK, the Apple Store now suggests that phones will ship in a few weeks, though it is quickly going up.

Pre-orders opened at midnight local time, meaning that they might already be unavailable once people wake up.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in