September 2022 was a weird time for tech fans. If you were there, hunched over your phone at 5:00 AM Pacific on a Friday, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The iPhone 14 pre order window wasn't just a shopping event. It was a chaotic scramble that proved one thing: even Apple’s massive servers can buckle under the weight of a million people clicking "Buy" at the exact same millisecond.
Most people thought they’d just log in and grab the new purple Pro Max. Simple, right? Not really. Within ten minutes, delivery dates for the high-end models were already slipping into October. If you weren't fast, you were basically out of luck for launch day.
The Morning Everything Broke
Honestly, the launch was a bit of a "shitshow," to borrow a term from the frustrated folks on Reddit at the time. Apple had this "Get Ready" feature that was supposed to make everything seamless. You’d pick your storage, your color, and your trade-in days in advance. Then, when the clock hit the hour, you just tapped one button.
Except the button didn't always work.
Widespread reports surfaced of the Apple Store app showing "Page Not Found" or "Cannot connect to the internet" errors. People were getting double-charged or seeing their trade-in values vanish into thin air. Some users even found that their banks were blocking the transaction because they didn't recognize the sudden $1,100 charge at 8:00 AM Eastern.
A Tale of Two iPhones
What’s wild is how different the demand was for the different models.
- iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max: These were the stars. People wanted the Dynamic Island and that new 48MP camera. Shipping dates for these slipped almost instantly.
- iPhone 14 and 14 Plus: These... didn't.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo actually pointed out that pre-orders for the standard iPhone 14 and the new Plus model were "worse than the iPhone SE 3." People realized the base models were still using the old A15 Bionic chip from the year before. Basically, if it didn't have the "island," people weren't biting as hard.
Carrier Chaos and $1,000 "Deals"
The carriers—AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile—went absolutely nuclear with their offers to lure people in. They were offering up to $1,000 off with an eligible trade-in. On paper, that meant a "free" iPhone 14 Pro if you had a decent phone to swap.
But there was a catch. You had to be on their most expensive unlimited plans.
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T-Mobile users had a particularly rough go of it. Their website struggled to process orders for hours, leading to a storm of angry tweets and frustrated customer service DMs. If you went through Apple but chose carrier financing, you sometimes hit a brick wall where the carrier's system couldn't verify your account. It was a mess of "Unexpected Demand" messages and circular loading icons.
Shipping Delays: The October Slump
Even if you managed to get an order through, the struggle wasn't over. By the time most people finally got the Apple Store app to load—usually around 8:15 AM—the "September 16" delivery date was a ghost.
Some 512GB and 1TB Pro Max models were showing late October delivery estimates before the sun was even up on the West Coast. 9to5Mac reported that even some people who were promised launch day delivery got emails a few days later saying, "Oops, actually it's coming on the 23rd or 30th."
Technical Glitches on Day One
When the phones finally did arrive on September 16, a new set of problems popped up.
- Wi-Fi Activation Bug: Some new phones wouldn't connect to open Wi-Fi networks during the initial setup. Apple had to tell people to connect to a Mac or PC to activate.
- iMessage/FaceTime Errors: Messages were showing up as green bubbles instead of blue, or just not delivering at all.
- The "Shaking" Camera: A few Pro users found that their cameras literally vibrated and made grinding noises when using apps like TikTok or Instagram.
What We Learned from the iPhone 14 Pre Order
Looking back, that pre-order window taught us a few things about how to actually win at the Apple game. It’s not just about being fast; it’s about being prepared for the system to fail.
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Don't rely on the website. The Apple Store app on a phone or iPad is almost always more stable than the browser version. While the website is still showing the "We'll be right back" placeholder, the app often goes live 30 seconds to a minute early.
Clear your card with the bank. If you’re spending $1,000+ at an unusual hour, your fraud protection might kick in. Call them or check your app permissions before the pre-order goes live.
The "Get Ready" period is mandatory. If you wait until the morning of to choose your storage and color, you've already lost. Use the pre-approval window that Apple opens a few days before. It saves your configuration so you can just hit "Pay" when the gates open.
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Check the shipping dates before you click. If the model you want is already delayed by four weeks, check the "Pick up in store" option. Sometimes a local Apple Store will have stock for launch day even when the shipping warehouse is empty.
Wait for the first update. Almost every iPhone launch has a "Day 0" software update (like iOS 16.0.1 for the 14). Download it immediately. It usually fixes the very activation bugs that ruined the experience for the early birds.
Actionable Next Steps
- Check your current trade-in value on the Apple Store app to see what your device is worth before the next cycle.
- Verify your carrier plan to see if you are on a "Premium" unlimited tier; otherwise, those $1,000 credits might not apply to you.
- Set up Apple Pay with a default card to ensure you can checkout in two taps rather than typing in credit card numbers while the clock is ticking.