iPhone 12 Preorders
Apple begins shipping iPhone pre-orders but deliveries may not be until Oct. 23. (Photo: Tim Alex/Unsplash(BY CC 2.0))

Thousands of customers placed pre-orders of iPhone 12 online and in physical stores, but while Apple has started shipping them, customers may receive their devices only after October 23.

Several Apple customers saw that the Cupertino-based company has started shipping their orders, and although delivery reports show that orders are on their way, actual deliveries are unlikely to happen before Apple's scheduled release date of October 23. After Apple announced the start of pre-orders on Thursday, Oct. 15, the company was swamped with orders for two of its 2020 flagship smartphones.

Orders for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro began on October 16, with the vast quantity of orders pushing back the company's estimated delivery dates for late buyers into November. For customers fortunate enough to confirm their orders within the first few hours of availability, they would have to wait some time until they can get their hands on their orders, leading some of them to investigate the progress of their orders.

According to some social media posts, a few of these orders were already out for shipping. There were also Apple customers who checked the tracking service of UPS and found the listings for their iPhone 12 orders, with the products labeled as "In Transit" to their destinations. However, these listing do not have any dates as to when the actual delivery will take place, and are instead labeled as "Date Tentative."

While the delivery tracking gave Apple customers who ordered the new iPhone 12 some encouragement, it appears that most of them will not receive their devices before October 23, after all. Like past deliveries, Apple worked with its delivery partners to maintain the scheduled release date for the company's products and this policy remains the same for the latest iPhone release. What this means is that it is highly unlikely for many of the orders to result in actual deliveries before the scheduled release of the iPhone 12 on October 23.

So far, only two iPhone 12 models are available for preorder, with the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the iPhone 12 mini's preorder scheduled starting November 6 and with the launch date set for November 13. While orders for the new iPhones are unlikely to happen before the street date scheduled by Apple, customers who also ordered iPhone accessories have started receiving their orders. This includes the recently-launched MagSafe Charger, and also cases for the new iPhone 12 models.

If you want to check your order status, you can visit the website of Apple, where in most instances, you may see your iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro order status is still "Preparing to Ship." However, if want to monitor the progress of your order, you can head over to the UPS website and enroll in the UPS My Choice platform or you can also use the feature "Track by Reference Number." You can enter the phone number you put on your iPhone order or your order number sans the last two digits on the reference number tracking field. Bear in mind though that not all iPhone 12 orders were already with UPS so make sure to continuously monitor your order throughout the week.