Apple begins shipping white iPhone 4 to stateside retail stores

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple this weekend began preparing its retail segment for the imminent launch of the company's much-anticipated white iPhone 4 models, signaling the end of a somewhat embarrassing delay that has seen the handsets elude eager buyers since last July.



According to people familiar with the matter, Apple's U.S-based retail stores began receiving promotional information overnight that features the white iPhone 4, expected to launch for both Verizon and AT&T subscribers "within the next week."



In addition, several stores are said to have received shipment notifications for the various white iPhone 4 SKUs and have been instructed to hold those shipments in the back of the house until further notice. All indications point to an official announcement by Wednesday, April 27th.



Word that white iPhones are finally en route to Apple stores in the U.S. comes just days after the inventory systems of U.K.-based wireless carrier Vodafone indicated stock of the handsets while photos of a 16GB model in official retail packaging -- carrying model number MC604B/A -- were published online.



The arrival of white models is expected to serve as a boon for iPhone sales during a time of year when customers have historically held off purchasing new iPhones under the expectation of next-generation models making their debut during the summer.



This year, however, Apple is widely reported to have decided to forgo a summer iPhone introduction in favor of introducing so-called fifth-generation models in the fall, much closer to the holiday shopping season. According to AppleInsider's sources, these new models will go into production in September and sport a unified Qualcomm baseband capable of serving both GSM and CDMA networks.



Such a move is also expected to allow the Cupertino-based company to align fifth-generation iPhones for a simultaneous release on both GSM and CDMA networks, meaning both AT&T and Verizon customers should be able to buy the new handsets later this year at the same time.







Apple has publicly pushed back the release of the white iPhone 4 several times over the past 9 months. In late July of last year, the company revealed that it would not be able to launch the handset alongside black models that month as it had originally planned. Instead, Apple rescheduled the launch for "Late 2010" only to concede a few months later that it would miss that self-imposed deadline as well, telling customers not to expect white models until the Spring of 2011.



This March, however, AppleInsider exclusively reported that Apple had finally begun production of the white models, which would become available to customers by April. The company was said to have made changes to both the handset's original "film material" and paint mixture that were resulting in the production of a "huge" number of defective units.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 117
    donw35donw35 Posts: 30member
    so other then it being white, whats the big deal. ends up in a black or pink case / protector
  • Reply 2 of 117
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by donw35 View Post


    so other then it being white, whats the big deal. ends up in a black or pink case / protector



    Pretty much. Mostly this is a case of Apple made a public statement they would release it in the spring and so they need to release it to not be liars



    As for the iphone 5, I heard a rumor that it won't be until 2012. The plan is supposedly to use the same form as the iphone 4 but put in a multiple antennas. They are waiting for LTE to be a bit beefier. They will have room for the t-mobile chip cause they are making good on that software based sim patent that was revealed about a month ago. The only downside is that the phones will still be unlocked in the US
  • Reply 3 of 117
    nkalunkalu Posts: 315member
    Cool. Not that I need one.
  • Reply 4 of 117
    iPhone 5 will still come out in June/July, and then there will be a lot of complaints from people would bought into the "Sept launch" hype.
  • Reply 5 of 117
    cvaldes1831cvaldes1831 Posts: 1,832member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    Pretty much. Mostly this is a case of Apple made a public statement they would release it in the spring and so they need to release it to not be liars



    As for the iphone 5, I heard a rumor that it won't be until 2012. The plan is supposedly to use the same form as the iphone 4 but put in a multiple antennas. They are waiting for LTE to be a bit beefier. They will have room for the t-mobile chip cause they are making good on that software based sim patent that was revealed about a month ago. The only downside is that the phones will still be unlocked in the US



    This is really confusing.



    I haven't heard of a single rumor of the iPhone 5 being pushed back to 2012. There are many rumors pointing to a fall release.



    Tim Cook mentioned that the current generation of LTE chips are actually too beefy, in terms of physical size and power consumption.



    The AWS-compatible chip is probably the one being used in the Verizon iPhone. They don't need to make any more space for it.



    The software-based SIM functionality was unveiled many months ago and carriers worldwide protested this move, so it is likely that Apple has tabled that idea.



    As for the "only downside is that the phones will still be unlocked in the US" statement, this appears to be the opposite of reality. In the United States, the iPhone 4 here is sold locked to AT&T, not unlocked.
  • Reply 6 of 117
    I'm starting to believe this was all planned out long time ago. The white iPhone appears and will drive up sales for a quarter that is normally a bit weaker due to new product launches in June and July. Releasing the phone now with new promotion ie marketing etc positions it as new. Yields to more certainty that Apple truly is preparing for parity with I5 this fall with probably ALL cell companies including Sprint and Tmobile.



    I'm surprised at people's lack of reality that Apple will in fact move into those companies sooner than later. Clearly it will continue to expand market share and it's Verizon deal proved that.



    And people please stop the jaded opines here. Just because posters think they know how the public perceives things based on what's said here -- get clue. These forums are ripe with passion junkies who are some of the forward thinkers of consumerdome. There are still hundreds of millions of people who are just realizing the iPhones and iPads are hot items. So chill.



    White iphone hitting the market now ??? Smart move and totally planned. It all fits. Deal.
  • Reply 7 of 117
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple begins shipping white iPhone 4s to stateside retail stores



    Since iPhone 4S is one of the potential names for the next gen. iPhone it might have beeen smart to have put an apostrophe between the '4' and the 's'.



    On first glance I thought something like a white 4S was coming out now, and Apple was saving the 5 for Sept.



    Ok that's all, have a Happy Easter.
  • Reply 8 of 117
    jnjnjnjnjnjn Posts: 588member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    Pretty much. Mostly this is a case of Apple made a public statement they would release it in the spring and so they need to release it to not be liars



    Your not a liar if you mis a self imposed deadline. Not per-se that is. Your only a liar if you didn't intent to release it at that time in the first place.

    Do you have any indication that Apple didn't intended to release the white iPhone, but only said so?



    J.
  • Reply 9 of 117
    OMG, does anybody even care about the white iPhone anymore? Who cares what color it is? You put it in a case anyways.
  • Reply 10 of 117
    bedouinbedouin Posts: 331member
    Release it already so I don't have to ever read another white iPhone story again . . .
  • Reply 11 of 117
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    The majority of iPad2's sold are white. I can certainly see the white iPhone being in demand. Personally, I like black, I have a black iPad2, but I can definitely see many people going for white, especially girls.



    I am also anti-cases, that defeats the whole purpose of getting a beautiful Apple product. I don't even have a smart cover for my iPad2. I wouldn't be covering my iPhone either and hiding it, if I had one. If somebody is so worried about scratching or damaging their product, then maybe they should buy something cheaper. Apple products are meant to be seen, not to be hidden.
  • Reply 12 of 117
    bushman4bushman4 Posts: 858member
    While the White Iphone4 is nice does anyone really think that people have been waiting 10 months just to get a White IPhone? And even though rumors say IPhone5 will be a Fall release nobody has really made any statement at Apple thereby leaving the possibility still open for a June~July launch. So when you look at the White IPhone launch don't expect to see lines for this item

    Most people that wanted An Iphone4 have a black one or settled for a black one
  • Reply 13 of 117
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BUSHMAN4 View Post


    While the White Iphone4 is nice does anyone really think that people have been waiting 10 months just to get a White IPhone? And even though rumors say IPhone5 will be a Fall release nobody has really made any statement at Apple thereby leaving the possibility still open for a June~July launch. So when you look at the WhiteOphone launch don't expect to see lines for this item

    Most people that wanted An iphone4 have or settled for a black one



    Look at it this way. A lot of girls don't put very much stuff on their phones so the 16GB is fine and for $200 plus a small early upgrade fee they would have the pretty new iPhone - all for the cost of a pair of shoes. You know how they are with shoes, they need to match their outfit.



    I don't see a lot of guys going silly over a white iPhone.
  • Reply 14 of 117
    If you waited 9 months for a white iPhone, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you...
  • Reply 15 of 117
    bdkennedy1bdkennedy1 Posts: 1,459member
    Embarrassing? Try a fu**ing disaster.
  • Reply 16 of 117
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by scotty321 View Post


    OMG, does anybody even care about the white iPhone anymore? Who cares what color it is? You put it in a case anyways.



    While its true that more people use cases than not, it's far from "all" people. All the cool kids leave it naked.



    Besides which, the coloured bumpers look a lot better on the white model than they do on the black so white is still preferred by a lot of folks.



    To me, using a case just screams out "I'm paranoid and/or clumsy and I can barely afford this thing." It comes off as similar to those men who put "bras" on their cars to "protect them" from little bugs getting in the grill. The protection is not really needed, and it just makes the really expensive car look cheap IMO.
  • Reply 17 of 117
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    Look at it this way. A lot of girls don't put very much stuff on their phones so the 16GB is fine and for $200 plus a small early upgrade fee they would have the pretty new iPhone - all for the cost of a pair of shoes. You know how they are with shoes, they need to match their outfit.



    I don't see a lot of guys going silly over a white iPhone.



    Thanks for the sexist nonsense.



    If this was a racist instead of merely gender based slag, you'd probably be banned, but I guess it's okay to make stupid generalisations about women here.
  • Reply 18 of 117
    rkprorkpro Posts: 28member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    I don't see a lot of guys going silly over a white iPhone.



    I don't see anyone going silly over it. It looks a lot worse, IMO.
  • Reply 19 of 117
    [greg][greg] Posts: 78member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by donw35 View Post


    so other then it being white, whats the big deal. ends up in a black or pink case / protector



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by scotty321 View Post


    OMG, does anybody even care about the white iPhone anymore? Who cares what color it is? You put it in a case anyways.



    Bumpers, people. The beauty of the iPhone 4 is that you don't need a case to cover the whole thing. There'll be plenty of white visible with most of the cases out there. White's a good choice to have. Besides, if they're not changing the form factor for the iPhone 5, then they can use the same paint mixture, flash casing, etc. Glad to see they finally got their $hit together on this... seems kind of ridiculous.
  • Reply 20 of 117
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    Thanks for the sexist nonsense.



    If this was a racist instead of merely gender based slag, you'd probably be banned, but I guess it's okay to make stupid generalisations about women here.



    Most women are totally clueless when it comes to computers. There might be a few exceptions to that rule, but overall, females need help from males when it comes to any computer related issues beyond the simplest of problems. This may be due to cultural issues or perhaps due to genetics. Either way, most women are worse at computers than men are.
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