“As retailers prepare to begin sending out iPhone 6 and 6 Plus pre-orders to customers, shipping company employees behind the scenes are working hard to transport the phones from China to the United States,” Juli Clover reports for MacRumors. “One MacRumors reader who works in shipping has posted photos of 195,000 iPhone 6 and 6 Plus pre-orders that he flew from China to Alaska in a 747, which will then be sent on to Chicago.”
“‘Yep, that’s what I do. I fly stuff. Privileged to be a small part of the Apple supply chain. Just landed a 747 full of iPhone 6’s in Anchorage. Another crew will take the airplane on to Chicago. It’ll be on the ground at O’hare about 9am Sept. 15. I gave it a little extra gas coming over the Pacific, just to get them here a little quicker. You’re welcome.’ According to the poster, goforblacksky, the massive load of phones weighed approximately 256,000 pounds,” Clover reports. “Phone 6 and 6 Plus orders will begin arriving to customers on Friday, 9/19, which is the date that the iPhone will also begin appearing in stores. Apple will have additional iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units available for customers willing to wait in line and purchase in store on that date.”
See the photos here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Has anyone received a shipping notification yet for either an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6+?
No shipping details yet. Got Serial number on my profile, and preparing for shipping, but nothing other than that.
I suspect the phones are on the plane and will ship from within the US. Last year we tracked our phones all the way from China, plane routs and everything, there wasn’t a minute we didn’t know where our phones were, over the Pacific.
This year, not so much. Hmmm….. less exciting.
I’m betting these are the in store iPhones for the crowds to fight for.
The ones ordered online and shipped to is are via fedex and we get the individual tracking #’s for them. Only takes FedEx two days to get them from china to me door, these were in the US on Monday morning….
Still preparing for shipping. Some are getting tracking numbers already.
Mine (6+ from week 37) is ‘Preparing for shipping’, but I do have a UPS tracking number in the UPS app (My UPS).
Yes, ordered from Verizon the first day at around 10 AM, got the notification this morning for a Friday delivery.
You ever wonder why the wings of planes don’t snap off?
I am so glad they don’t.
Because aircraft wings are designed by engineers that went to school on how to build aircraft wings 😉 (says the guy who took the class)
If there was a “drop shipment”, we might have got our iPhones sooner than the 19th. If they float, that is.
Of course they float! Each little box is wearing a tiny little orange life vest.
Will post photo!
Got an email from Verizon. I think my iPhone 6 is on that guy’s plane. It’ll be here Friday 🙂
Wonder how much longer he’ll be flying after he has his wings clipped✈️
“Loose lips sink ships” – or something like that!
True and he might be singing “Rolling in the Deep”
Did anybody notice that the plane model stamped on the side back by the tail is a 777F? Not a jumbo, but they did take the seats out to make more room. The pilot must be tickled to have the honor for this transpacific voyage.
The 777F (Freighter) didn’t “take seats out to make more room”, it never had passenger seats. It is a specific version of the airplane with reinforcements and cargo handling equipment for efficient small pallet transcontinental transport.
If you have large pallets, then those go on a 747F.
If you want to save a little money and you don’t mind waiting several weeks for your shipment, then you put your transcontinental cargo on a boat.
It would seem that Apple would rather pay a premium for fast shipping rather than have its customers wait a couple more weeks. This is odd considering that a larger screen phone is at least two years overdue.
I was being silly about the seats. Of course the F is Freight and there are no seats. I did refrain about the stewardesses not having to deal with the headaches drunk iPhones from having too many Bloody Marys during cocktail service.
I do think their tiny little life vests are cute, though. And because they ain’t got no blood, the sharks won’t attack them as they go bob bob bobbing along.
I don’t think you were trying to be funny, but it’s funny that you got schooled.
Jeez, everybody’s such a little bitch this morning. At least I didn’t screech, “It’s all Obama’s fault!!!”
These are two different photos. You’re correct the photo below is a 777. The photo above one cannot tell as only the pilot is claiming he’s flying a 747.
Triple 7’s carry massive amounts of cargo as well.
As the article states, the photos were clearly from two different aircraft: a 747F and a 777F. The two different planes were shown to convey the fleet being utilized to meet demand in the United States and other countries.
The logistical challenges of moving so many iPhones to so many different parts of the world in so little time must be immense. It’s something lost on most readers. It must be amazing to be at the middle of this. To see so many air freighters landing and taking off at Anchorage as they make their way to and from the United States must be quite a sight.
Kudos to Apple and its contracted air freight carriers for orchestrating this.
I work at the airport and I can assure you what is see daily is nothing short of amazing. #6 in the world for landed weight.
That’s just great. Just inform ISIS where the plane is & it’s route. They cut off Apple Supply & WWIII starts.
The whole flight is first class.
I saw both planes on the tarmac here in Anchorage. The 777 sat parked for 24+ hours before it left. Isn’t aviation great.
The only iPhone loaded jet plane to get crowds greeting it enthusiastically since the Beatles. 🙂 Or something like that…