Apple’s new iPhones go on sale; fight breaks out at store
Long lines and sold-out devices: It’s Apple’s iPhone release day.
The Cupertino tech company has begun selling the new versions of the iPhone across the world, and already, some locations have sold out of some models.
[Update, 9:50 a.m. PDT Sept. 20: Fights have also broken out at an Apple store in Pasadena, leading to at least two arrests, police said.
Police arrested George Westbrook, 23, of Compton and Lamar Mitchell, 43, of Pasadena for fighting in line outside of the store, Pasadena Police Lt. Jason Clawson said.
The store hired two Pasadena police officers to keep control of the crowd, he said.
About 9 a.m., another scuffle was breaking out as one man left the store with multiple phones, Clawson said. People whom the man hired to stand in line for him began fighting with him because they said they weren’t being paid enough, Clawson said.
Clawson estimated at least 200 people were outside of the store Friday morning waiting for it to open.]
The iPhone 5s is available starting at $199 with a two-year contract and comes with a speedy all new 64-bit A7 chip, an improved camera that can film in slow-motion, and Touch ID, a fingerprint scanner that can be used to unlock a user’s device.
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The iPhone 5c, meanwhile, is selling for $99 with a two-year contract, and it is essentially the 2013 model of the iPhone 5. The only real difference between the two phones is that the iPhone 5c comes in five colors and uses a plastic shell, not metal.
Reports leading up to Friday’s release indicated there’d be limited supply of the iPhone 5s, especially the gold and silver options of the device. That appears to be true as various locations have already sold out of the gold gadget.
At the San Francisco Apple Store there is a line of about 400 people, and the golden iPhone 5s is gone.
The golden iPhone 5s is also proving popular online. Apple’s website has already pushed the shipping availability of that device to October. Meanwhile, shipping times for the black and silver versions of the iPhone 5s are listed as seven to 10 days.
Apple’s launch is expected to be at least as big as last year’s thanks to the fact that the company is also selling the new iPhones in China. This is the first time Apple releases in China on the first day of the iPhone’s availability.
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