Want to reserve an iPhone X for in-store pickup? Here’s how – CNET

If you’re not one of the people with an iPhone X waiting for you at an Apple Store on Friday, you can try again the next day. And the next. 

Apple, like in years past, will be offering an option for people to check online for iPhone X availability in nearby stores and then pick up the device. In the US, you’ll have to pay for the phone online at the time you’re placing it on hold. In other countries, like the UK, you pay when you get to the store and have the device in hand. 

Apple will show available Apple Store stock each morning at sites dedicated to each country. In Canada and the UK, for instance, you can check at 6 a.m. local time each day to reserve a device. In Hong Kong, the start time to reserve a device online is 8 a.m. local time. 

The iPhone X is one of the hottest devices Apple has ever sold. Supply is believed to be even lower than in years past, where eager iPhone fans had to wait weeks for a device. Currently, the wait for an online order is five to six weeks. Nov. 3 availability for the device disappeared almost as soon as preorders began Friday. 

Apple Stores will get some supplies of the device, though. And each day, those will be available to customers who stop by the store or who reserve them online. Don’t expect the stores to have endless supplies. If you just have to have the device right away, you’ll want to get in line early for the Nov. 3 availability date. Apple recommends you show up well ahead of time. If you want to try your luck reserving one online, that resumes Saturday. 

With this system, you have to pick up the phone the same day you reserve it online, as the reservations are based on what’s in stock at an Apple Store that particular day. That works the same way for US orders (which are paid for online) or the pay-in-store options in the countries listed below. 

Reserve and pay in-store in:

Some form of the iPhone reservation program has been around since at least the iPhone 4S as a way of managing the flow of people coming in and out of an Apple Store. 

Be sure to check out CNET’s early iPhone X impressions here.

Now Playing: Watch this: iPhone X: Our first day with Apple’s biggest phone ever

First published Nov. 1, 12:19 p.m. PT
Updates, 4:15 p.m.: Adds more details about the program. 5:35 p.m.: Includes more info about the program in the US.

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