Crowds camped outside of stores before Apple's first folding phone became available.

The tech giant’s first foldable phone hit shelves Friday, and lines were forming (and selling out) well before Apple stores even opened. Many preordered the phone, but that didn’t stop people from trying their luck to buy one without an order number. CNET editors and reporters were on the ground to bring you all of the uproar, so you can save yourself the trip if you were trying to buy one over the weekend.

At Apple’s 5th Avenue location in New York, the line started forming on Wednesday by 9 a.m. ET — two days before the launch. Over 50 people were waiting in line by Thursday at 7 p.m. ET, sometimes with buckets serving as placeholders. In the first minutes after the store opened, there wasn’t word of the iPhone Duo selling out yet, but other stores were done before their doors opened.

At the Oxmoor Center in Louisville, Kentucky, the Apple store opened at 8 a.m. EDT, and CNET’s Faith Chihil saw a line of more than 40 people three hours earlier. At about 7:27 a.m. ET, Apple store employees started taking orders for the phone. But the 256GB iPhone Duo was already sold out.

m. ET, and was able to preorder the phone. m. ET. m. ET, the rest of the line was dismissed after an announcement that the store had sold out before doors opened.

Source link