This happens every year, and those dates are just placeholders.

If you ordered early, you should be getting your phone on the same date it's available for sale at stores, in this case next Friday.

I hope that's the case. My preorder went through a 7:51am and it says estimated delivery date between october 26 -nov 2. I have never had this before with Att. 

Yep. This is normal.

And on prior years it could show those dates until the end and bam, you get it on release day. Happen all the time and those of us that order from AT&T all the time are used to it.

Hopefully it's better this year and they will update with accurate dates as they get closer to ship.

Cheers,

This is ATT's problem.  They can't seem to get a sales and inventory software that can give customers info that should be available at the time of sale.  I like ATT but I WILL NEVER EVER BUY A PHONE FROM THEM!

So I spoke to someone on chat and they told me the dates were accurate because apparently they are getting the shipments in on launch day Oct 23rd. Then they are being shipped out to customers. How is that possible, that's not how preorders for a launch work. I told them I felt wronged because the website did not state that and now its too late for me to go anywhere else and make a pre order for launch day. Their reply "shift is ending you can chat or call tomorrow". I am fuming mad right now. I have never had this issue. I could understand if I ordered late but I was on At&t's website at 7am. 

People have gotten phones on launch day for many years from AT&T.  The way it usually worked is that Apple delivered a bunch of iPhones shortly before launch day to AT&T’s warehouse (in Ft. Worth TX, IIRC) and the day before launch day, AT&T starts shipping them out via overnight shipping to customers.  You don’t see any tracking info from AT&T until the day before, unlike Apple where you see tracking over a few days all the way from China.

It will be interesting to see how timely everything works out with the pandemic.  Not sure commercial air traffic is completely back to pre-COVID levels.  In any case, since the order is in, not much you can do right now.  If you ordered early, you may actually get the phone on launch day, so too soon to fret about it.

dwill is correct, and this happens every single year. Don’t fret. If you ordered early, you should get your phone on launch day.

Cheers,

Hey so I ordered my phone in store at 11 30 am eastern time on Friday and it’s showing ship date 23rd to the 30th. Does this mean I’m one of the earlier shipping dates? Is 23rd to 30th what it shows for everyone or just 23rd?

Iphone 12 Pro 128GB Pacific Blue Ship Dates

I ordered on 10/16 10am EST. Is there hope for Friday 10/23 delivery?

Current Status:

Order status: 
Preparing to ship

We're getting your order ready to ship.
Estimated ship dates: 
October 23, 2020 - October 30, 2020

I preordered the 12 in red to replace my red 8 Plus. The 12 in red looks more orangey than the 8 Plus, but it’s going to be in an Otterbox from day 1, so it won’t matter too much. Otterbox should get here Thursday and Apple is still saying the phone will arrive Friday. Great timing!