14 DAY TRIAL // Did you order your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus and you are hitting the refresh button in your browser on UPS' website every 15 minutes? You may not be alone. A few good millions of future Apple users do the same. For those of you who have the UPS page open in a tab or pinned to your browser's favorites, we have good news.
Each day, at least 20 planes are leaving China towards the United States or other global destinations to bring the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. A MacRumors reader, who is also a Cargo Airline pilot, has posted a few photos of his load. Because other readers were suspicious of his post, he was nice enough to stick around the forum some more and answer a few questions.
The pilot
His username is goforblacksky and he was not afraid to show his face and uniform in the cargo bay section of the plane. He was part of the crew of a Boeing 747 that was carrying iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus handsets to the United States. The photos show covered boxes that house 195,000 iOS devices.
The pilot explained how he was 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," he said.
The so-called goforblacksky added that the load of phones was massive: over 256,000 pounds. Another photo posted by China Daily shows a similar package that is about to get loaded on a China Southern Airlines Boeing 777 airliner. The total load for this plane went over 93 tons, and the airliner departed from Central China's Henan province for Chicago, Illinois a few days ago.
On the way
The cited source says that customers in US and around the world have begun receiving shipping notifications from Apple. Others are still on the "Preparing for shipment" status page.
The Cupertino giant will deliver the first phones on Friday, September 19, 2014. By that date, all Apple stores and carrier retail shops in a few countries around the world should have enough stock to cover the needs of the users who pre-ordered their iPhone online or at the location.
Apple has already announced that they've gone through another record for iPhone 6 pre-orders. Over 4 million of them were sold in the first 24 hours.
