Most customers may still receive their phones on launch day, as scheduled

Oct 10, 2011 06:54 GMT  ·  By

iPhone 4S shipment notices sent to certain US customers indicate that Apple will deliver some units ahead of the planned October 14 debut.

Though there have been occasional exceptions in the past, Apple usually doesn’t send new iPhone orders early.

The company talks to the carriers to hold delivery until the handset’s official debut. As such, it is believed Apple will not send over the units before October 14.

Apple and some US carriers are known to have sold out of iPhone 4S units. The Mac maker’s web store continues to list the last-reported estimate for delivery on newly placed orders: 1-2 weeks.

Apple offers the iPhone 4S in both Black and White variants, with storage options ranging from 16GB to 64GB.

Unlike previous years, Apple’s iPhone comes with support for three carriers (instead of just one, or two) and more than one cellular standard (world-phone).