I know what I was doing Thursday night at midnight: Watching the online Apple Store refuse to load while I waited for the AT&T store to very slowly take my iPhone 6 order — which it did. And over the first 24 hours, 4 million other iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus buyers put in their orders, too, which Apple says is a new record.

No surprise. Any Apple enthusiast knew that a bigger-screened iPhone 6 would be in hot demand.

Apple reports, “Demand for the new iPhones exceeds the initial pre-order supply and while a significant amount will be delivered to customers beginning on Friday and throughout September, many iPhone pre-orders are scheduled to be delivered in October.”

Actually, I’ve seen some shipping dates, particularly for the iPhone 6 Plus, stretch out into November, depending on what you order and who you order it from.

How to Get an iPhone 6 Now

If you haven’t put in your order yet, don’t despair. If you live near an Apple Retail Store or AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, or T-Mobile store, you’ll be able to wait in line on Friday, with stores opening at 8 a.m. They will likely sell out of stock-on-hand quickly, so how long do you want to wait in line beforehand? After that, you can hope for an in-store shipment on any given day to arrive, which also means you might have to settle for a color or amount of storage that’s not your first pick. Just one word of caution: If you’re a shutterbug, do not get a 16GB iPhone 6 — it’s just not enough built-in storage for you. If you do, you’ll spend more time managing your available storage than enjoying your life. Just shell out for the 64GB version, grimace at the hit to your wallet, and then start smiling again.

Alternately, put an order in with your cellular service provider. As you wait, you might be able to pick up an in-store version before yours ships . . . and I’m sure their customer service teams can find a way to help you cancel the order and get you set up to rock and roll with your shiny new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus.

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK beginning this Friday, September 19 and in more than 20 additional countries beginning on Friday, September 26 including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.

No word on how supplies might be constrained in international locations. . . .

About the author

Chris Maxcer

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I've been writing about the tech industry since the birth of the email newsletter, and I still remember the clacking Mac keyboards from high school -- Apple's seed-planting strategy at work. I'm a big fan of elegant gear and great tech, but there's something to be said for turning it all off -- or most of it -- to go outside. Online I like to call out cool stuff on Wicked Cool Bite and blog with my buddies at Man Makes Fire. To catch me, take a "firstnamelastname" guess at the url of this site.