Apple's retail stores stopped answering their phones over the weekend, which meant there wasn't any way to find out if they had the iPhone model in stock you wanted without going to the store and waiting in line. As of Monday, however, the company's website makes it much easier to know if the iPhone you want is available, and you can purchase for in-store pickup, too.
You can check for iPhone 5s in-store availability online
To see if the iPhone 5s model you want is available at any of the Apple Stores near you, do this:
- Choose the iPhone features you want at the online Apple Store. That includes color, capacity, and carrier.
- Now look for the Summary bar on the right and click Check availability.
- Enter your Zip Code and click Search Stores.
From here you can see which Apple Stores near your Zip Code have the model you want, and you can purchase for in-store pickup, too.
The iPhone 5s is hard to come by right now
We checked for every capacity and color combination for all of the stores in and around the Denver metro area Monday morning and found that they are sold out of everything. No iPhone 5s to be found at any store. You may have better luck at your local Apple Store.
This isn't as convenient as the availability charts Apple has used during previous iPhone launches, but it's much better than having to drive to your local Apple Store only to find that they don't have any iPhones at all -- which is the most likely outcome right now.