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Pre order vs Available. Whats the difference?

A friend of mine just preordered his iPhone 13 in Malaysia from the official Apple Malaysia retail website "apple. com/my". And its showing its estimated delivery is almost a month later near the end of October until first week of November. Why is it so late?


It says available starting from 8th October and preorder from 1st Oct. Doesn't that mean Malaysia should have stock of the new iPhones from 8th October?? What does "available starting from 8th October" mean anyway? Its so vague. Does it mean I can buy directly from any apple retailer store from 8th?

I thought pre-order meant I will get it earlier compared to those who ordered later. But if I order online and its delivery is a month later but its available on stores earlier.. what should I do now if I want to buy? Can someone clarify these? Thank you

Posted on Sep 30, 2021 10:41 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 1, 2021 5:49 AM

Right. When you submit your order with Apple, you’ll get an estimated delivery date. Ofc, the exact time depends on what the product is, what’s it’s configuration, and what’s your location. Can’t guarantee that you’d get something before it hits store shelves, but odds of it are yes

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 1, 2021 5:49 AM in response to rrk99

Right. When you submit your order with Apple, you’ll get an estimated delivery date. Ofc, the exact time depends on what the product is, what’s it’s configuration, and what’s your location. Can’t guarantee that you’d get something before it hits store shelves, but odds of it are yes

Sep 30, 2021 10:45 AM in response to rrk99

Hey there!

When a product is available for Pre-Order, that means that the product hasn't left the assembly line yet, and is still being made. When a product is available itself, that means that units have already rolled off of the assembly line, and are available for purchase.


Also, one thing to note is Apple allocates different amounts of stock for a certain channel during each quarter. For instance, Apple may allocate more stock to the education channel over an authorized reseller channel in August time, as more educators and students will be ordering. There's no way to check to see which channel has more reserved, unless you work at Apple and work on allocating products.


Hope this helped!

Pre order vs Available. Whats the difference?

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