It’s that most cherished of days that comes once a year. No, not pancake day – but the release of new iPhone models. Both the iPhone 5s and 5c were let loose on the hungry masses today, causing scores of people to flock to their nearest Apple Stores and phone retailers.
We’ve heard reports of London’s central stores selling out without issue, with the streets looking close to Beatlmania. Over in the US we’ve seen the longest queue for an iPhone to date. But how is the rest of the UK handling? We phoned around a range of Apple Stores today and asked how everyone’s new favourite toys were selling.
You probably won’t be surprised to hear that each of the seven stores we rang had completely sold out of the 5s, although it’s interesting to note just at what time they were gone by.
Starting up top in Aberdeen, we were told that the store, which opened at 8am, had issued all of its tickets for the phone by 9am, with every one of those being traded for phones an hour later. The iPhone 5c didn’t prove as popular, and we were told at 2pm that there were still some devices in stock. Meanwhile, Birmingham also opened at 8am and were once again 5s-less within the hour. They still had some stock of the 5c (we rang straight after speaking to Aberdeen), but were told that stock couldn’t be discussed when we asked how much.
Belfast impressed us when they told us they’d opened at 7am (pick your game, the rest of you!), and were completely sold out of the 5s by 8am. They noted that the 5c was indeed still in stock, but weren’t willing to discuss just how many were left. Starting to see a pattern develop here?
Over in Cardiff’s St David’s store, we found some friendly staff who were a bit more willing to talk. They opened at 8am and had, as usual, sold out of the 5s by 9am. Interestingly, they noted that they hadn’t been granted much stock of the deluxe model, while they had ‘a lot more’ of the 5c. We guess that trade off didn’t work out too well though, as we were told that the outlet still had a ‘fair amount left’. This was at around 3pm, so don’t expect those leftovers to go anywhere fast.
Obviously London’s Covent Garden and Regent Street stores had no trouble selling out, so we didn’t ring them. Instead, we were surprised to hear that London’s Westfield store didn’t sell out on its 5s stock until 10am, making it the slowest seller of the day. Even if it has the most competition with other stores, its unusual that its location didn’t make it as much of a hot spot. Even more unusual was that the iPhone 5c had also sold out, and at the exact same time as the 5s to boot.
Sheffield next, where the 8am start was a comparative slow-burner – it took two hours for the 5s to sell out. We were also told that, at 3.15pm, ‘quite a few’ 5cs were still in stock. They even went a bit to further to add that they ‘shouldn’t sell out any time soon’.
Finally we tried our luck with the Bluewater store. The staff here were tight-lipped. The 5s was gone, but we weren’t told at what time the last one went, and the 5c was still in stock. When we asked just how many were left we were abruptly told ‘enough’. Guess it’s been a long day in Bluewater.
We also tried ringing around a few other outlets, but the likes of Phones 4U and Carphone Warehouse weren’t nowhere near as willing to discuss stock other than the usual sell outs.
So there you have it – lots of love for the iPhone 5s, not so much for the 5c, which pretty much falls in line with earlier reports. We were hoping to follow up the story of the Gold-coloured 5s selling out fastest, but most stores didn’t have a clue which model went when. We do know, however, that you’ll be waiting some time into October for that particular colour now.
On a lighter note – we’d like to compliment Apple on their impressive array of hold music, including the likes of The Black Keys and The White Stripes. It made our respective waits (which were a bit lengthy), very pleasant. Happy iPhone day, everyone!
