- November 11, 2013 11:00am EST
Almost two months after the iPhone 5s arrived on Sept. 20, there's still a huge line outside the flagship Apple Store in midtown Manhattan - at 8:30 in the morning.The big Apple Store on 59th Street is open 24 hours, so these folks weren't waiting for the store to open. According to an employee who was taking names and handing out reservation cards, demand for the 5S is so intense - and supplies are so low - that Apple is shifting all of the 5s purchasers out of the store so they don't mob it for other people trying to find Apple products. (Click the photo below.)
While I was standing there, a woman came up asking for a gold 5s, and the Apple rep just said "no." He didn't give a wait time - that one was just out of bounds.
The 5s is certainly a hot-selling phone. Apple sold 9 million combined 5s and 5c models in its first weekend of release. In the quarter ending Sept. 28, Apple sold 33.6 million iPhones, up 26 percent from the previous year, according to the company's fourth-quarter earnings release.
Apple isn't as short on 5s models as the big line-up made it seem. According to Apple's online availabilty tool, two out of the five Apple stores in New York City currently have the 32GB, gold Verizon iPhone 5s unit, and four out of five had the AT&T model. Delivery times for online orders are still 2-3 weeks, though.
Part of the line-up phenomenon may be the unusual role the Fifth Avenue store plays in Apple's ecosystem. As the company's U.S. retail flagship, it's an iconic building and tends to attract many foreign tourists and out-of-towners who can't find, or may not know about Apple's Upper West Side or West Village stores.
But you can't deny that at least in one corner of the U.S., the two-month-old 5s is still the hottest thing going. Check out our iPhone 5s review to find out more.
