iPhone 15 preorder chaos sees users locked out of Apple.com for up to 20 minutes

News
By Stephen Warwick
published

iPhone 15 preorders have not gone smoothly.

Apple Store logo down
(Image credit: Apple)
iPHONE 15: What you need to know

Teaser image for Apple Wonderlust event

(Image credit: Apple)

- Apple Event - LIVE reaction
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Pro /iPhone 15 Pro Max
- Apple Watch Series 9 / Ultra 2
- iOS 17
- watchOS 10

Apple's iPhone 15 preorders are live, but problems accessing the site online and through Apple's Apple Store app have seen many users forced to wait up to 30 minutes to make their preorder purchases. 

While Apple's preorders never go live exactly on the hour, this year felt like a particularly egregious and slow experience. Users were reporting seeing the "We can't wait either" screen on the Apple Store website more than ten minutes after preorders should have gone live. Personally, it took me more than 20 minutes to get onto Apple.com. Even when users were able to access the store, many (ourselves included) were met with error popups when trying to add a phone to their shopping basket. 

While some people have joked that Apple's routine of taking the Apple Store down ahead of a launch event is performative and unnecessary, today's antics suggest that Apple's store infrastructure maybe really just can't handle the demand. 

iPhone 15 preorder pandemonium 

"No idea why this was so difficult but after endless errors on my phone and the Apple Store app I finally managed to get a preorder in on my Mac," said Halide Camera's Sebastiaan de With on X. 

One user said it was the "Absolute worst iPhone upgrade program preorder experience I’ve ever had." Stating, "Preselected, pre-approved, all saved in the Apple Store app and still can’t order. Errors abound."

As mentioned, preordering on Apple.com is never perfect, but this year's iPhone 15 launch is definitely the worst we've ever seen in terms of our own experience and how widespread the problems seem to be for customers. 

The other reason the Apple store might not be coping is simply due to popular demand. Apple's new iPhone 15 models are a much more enticing upgrade compared to last year's iPhone 14, as are the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max thanks to their titanium chassis, USB-C, A17 processor, and some camera upgrades, as well as USB 3 data transfer speeds. 

It's bad news for anyone who hasn't managed to place an order, with iPhone 15 Pro Max shipping times for all colors and sizes already backed up into October. Store availability remains, however, and it seems the disruption might have been widespread enough that not too many people have missed out on the phone they want. 

We're covering all the Apple iPhone 15 event news and reactions now that Wonderlust is over. Don't miss all our iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, iOS 17and watchOS 10 coverage so far.

Stephen Warwick
Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design. Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • FFR
    Completely understandable, 3nm soc, titanium frame, and usb c seems to be a pretty deadly combination.

    Enticing for consumers, deadly for premium android
    Reply
  • FFR
    Reports are coming in that the iPhone 15 pro max has sold out in North America, most of Europe, and in some Asian counties including China.

    Reply
  • Mr Segundus
    FFR said:
    Completely understandable, 3nm soc, titanium frame, and usb c seems to be a pretty deadly combination.

    Enticing for consumers, deadly for premium android
    Lol this isn’t “deadly for Android”. Android users are doing just fine.
    Reply
  • FFR
    Mr Segundus said:
    Lol this isn’t “deadly for Android”. Android users are doing just fine.

    If you actually read my post, I wrote premium android not android users , and no premium android sales are not doing fine at all, even before the iPhone 15 pro and 15 pro max launch.

    Regardless I agree, “android users are doing just fine” switching to an iPhone .

    Premium android oems:
    Reply
  • mogelijk
    This was my worst iPhone ordering experience ever. I got into the app about 5 minutes late but, when I tried ordering, it kept erroring out. I then went through a cycle where I couldn't get in (showed that preorder hadn't started) or my order would error out (it seemed to be hanging on the trade in). It wasn't until about 30 minutes after preorder started that I was able to successfully place my order.
    Reply
  • nr2d
    I've always had problems on preorder day for the iPhone but never like this morning. 20 minutes is accurate. BUT I did get my order in and it will be delivered next Friday.
    Reply