iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C Might Not Hit Store Shelves Until October 25

Now that we’re hearing rumors that Apple won’t announce its next generation iPhone lineup until September 10, we’re beginning to hear that there may be a six-week delay from when the phone is announced to when consumers would be able to get their hands on one. According to the latest intelligence, the iPhone 5S flagship and the low cost iPhone 5C might not be available in stores until October 25th, though consumers may likely be able to pre-order either or both handsets earlier than the store availability.

The rumored delay, according to Tech Maniacs, the reason for the delay is that Apple had to also work on the iPad 5 and a new update to the iPad mini, and that’s pulling the company’s resources thin considering that both tablets are expected to be announced at a date soon after September 10.

Another potential issue for stretching out the wait time to six weeks is that Apple may be facing component shortages of its fingerprint scanner, an issue that we had reported yesterday. This would drastically limit Apple’s production to just 4 million iPhone 5S units for the quarter. For comparison, Apple sold over 5 million iPhone 5 units in just the launch weekend alone. Pushing back the availability date would allow Apple to ramp up productions somewhat so that supplies won’t be overwhelmed by demand.

And according to Phone Arena, the October 25th date may have some credibility as it is published by “the same source that apparently forecast last year’s release date for the iPhone 5.”

Carrier AT&T is already preparing customer accounts for iPhone 5S upgrades, with some customers getting preferred pricing on the iPhone even if they had just upgraded to the iPhone 5 last year and are still within the two-year contract. The preferred pricing isn’t quite as low as customers who are fully eligible for an upgrade, but provide a decent discount compared to having to purchase the iPhone 5S at full price.

As Apple likes to keep a tight reign on supplies, if you pre-order the iPhone 5S or iPhone 5C when preorders go live, deliveries may not happen until the actual October 25th availability date.