Preorders for iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro have begun

By William Gallagher

After about a three-hour downtime, the Apple Store is back online and preorders have started for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro.

Apple's iPhone 16 Pro range

While the Apple Watch Series 10 preorders began on the day of the "It's Glowtime" event, they were paused with the Apple Store online being taken down earlier on September 13, 2024. Similarly, orders for the existing "natural" color version of the Apple Watch Ultra were paused, and have now resumed alongside the new black edition.

As ever, local availability of preorders is varying depending on your location and Apple's local content delivery network rollouts. AppleInsider can confirm that preorders have begun.

If the store is not available to you through a browser or through the iOS Apple Store app, try reloading or relaunching it. There can be a delay of several minutes before all areas have access to the store again.

Going by traditional trends, expect to find that the greatest demand in the first few minutes of preorders is for the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Buyers who are able to get in the first orders can expect them to be shipped by September 20. It's the same date for the whole iPhone 16 range and the new Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Despite the earlier start to preorders for the Apple Watch Series 10, that, too, will be shipping from September 20.

Note, too, that Apple is far from the only place selling the new devices -- and other vendors are certain have either better deals, or outright better prices.

Plus if you have an existing iPhone or Apple Watch, there are many trade-in deals to be found. Currently, for instance, BuyBackWorld is offering a 16% bonus (capped at $45) on trades valued at $30 or more with promo code INSIDER16.