In yet another twist in the ongoing saga of the iPhone 4 pre-orders, it appears that some lucky customers will actually receive Apple’s new smartphone a day early.
Wireless Week has confirmed through FedEx tracking that some home-delivered pre-orders will arrive on June 23, instead of the original arrival date of June 24. Forums and blogs around the Web are also reporting users who are receiving e-mails from AT&T and Apple that confirm the early delivery date.
The news may come as a surprise to many, as AT&T and Apple both apologized for a bungled first day of pre-orders. After high traffic crippled AT&T’s servers, both Apple and AT&T’s websites were unable to process pre-orders for most of June 15, the first day that the phone was available for pre-order. Nevertheless, the companies reported more than 600,000 pre-orders in 24 hours.
Apple also has announced that the next batch of shipments won’t arrive until mid-July. The iPhone 4 is currently available for pre-orders only, but is set for full launch on June 24. The new smartphone is available in 16 and 32GB models for $199 and $299, respectively, with a two-year contract.
Last week, iSuppli told Wireless Week that it didn’t see any shortages in components for the new phone as some other manufacturers have experienced, but recent reports from TheStreet.com suggest there could be shortages of the iPhone 4’s retina display screens.