AppleInsider Staff
Apple late Thursday took its online storefront down as it prepares for an expected onslaught of preorders for new hardware, including purple iPhone 12 models and the much-anticipated AirTag.
As is tradition, the online Apple Store was pulled from service at around 11 p.m. Pacific, roughly six hours shy of a scheduled purple iPhone 12 and AirTag release.
In line with Apple's typical preorder timeline, the new devices will be made available on Friday at 5 a.m. Pacific, 8 a.m. Eastern. Orders are expected to land in customers' hands, and in brick-and-mortar Apple Stores, on April 30.
Unveiled during Tuesday's "Spring Loaded" event, the purple iPhone 12 variants are identical to iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini models launched last year. The new purple colorway has been described as lavender or light purple, a hue that complements Apple's spring collection of MagSafe accessories.
AirTag was also unwrapped after years of rumors and industry scuttlebutt. The diminutive tracker packs in a speaker, Bluetooth, NFC and U1 chip for broad Find My network discovery and precision finding with compatible iPhones. One of the few Apple products to boast a user-replaceable battery, the accessory is designed to attach to bags, keychains and other commonly lost items, where it can serve as a homing beacon for up to a year.
Apple's purple iPhone 12 starts at $799 with 64GB storage, while a base model iPhone 12 mini with 64GB of storage comes in at $699.
AirTag sells for $29 a pop, or $99 for a pack of four. Apple is marketing a range of AirTag accessories like the Polyurethane Loop, Leather Loop and Leather Key Ring. The AirTag Hermes line includes a Bag Charm, Key Ring, Travel Tag, and Luggage Tag, each of which comes with one custom-engraved AirTag and a hefty price tag. AirTag can also be engraved with emoji and text characters for free.
William Gallagher
Malcolm Owen
Charles Martin
10 Comments
I'm just waiting until 2:00 pm here (Germany) to buy a 4-pack of the AirTags. One each for my keys and my wife's keys. My wife is always losing her keys, and then when she can't find them, she takes mine and I have to look for them later. I'm hoping this will solve a major source of irritation for us. I'll find a use for the other 2 Tags I'm sure.
A "mobile/free-floating" one to slip into our coat pockets or bags when we go out might be good. I wonder if leaving one in the car would help my wife find her parked car whenever malls open back up here (of course by then the AppleCar might already be out).
I lost my favorite golf hat about two months ago and it took me 6 weeks to find it under the couch... so there is that.
The AirTags are what I’m most interested into. One to put in a suitcase and one to keep in the car in case I need to find it or it’s stolen. Of course I’d love a new iMac in one of those amazing colors, but that will have to wait. Plus I’ll need to rearrange my home office so the back of the iMac is visible!
Can one of the new iMacs be “slaved” to another, acting as a display to create a 2 screen setup? I haven’t seen this discussed.
I don’t know … the purple iPhone opening up for orders on the same exact day that Dinosaur Jr (J Mascis) releases a new album. This all seems just a little too coincidental to me. ;)
Just ordered a 4-pack (completed order at 05:03 PDT) and it shows delivery of May 10th - 12th.
Even though I had preselected my engraving and saved it, when the site went down that info was lost and I had to rekey it when I ordered.
Guess the early bird didn't catch the worm this morning.