You shouldn’t pre-order the iPhone 15 tomorrow

Apple has quite a storied past for opening-day iPhone sales. We’ve all seen people camp outside Apple stores just to be the first ones to get their hands on a spanking-new iPhone. Even with a robust online pre-order and sales machinery in place, folks in some parts of the world still queue up to buy Cupertino’s latest and greatest as soon as it goes on sale. It’s just what Apple does best — lures customers in with its dazzling marketing magic and makes them want to be the first to own its most premium smartphones. But we’re here to tell you not to give in to that feeling come the new iPhones. There are several reasons why tomorrow is not the best time to buy the iPhone 15.

Apple being Apple has traditionally not given its customers any pre-order benefits for reserving new iPhones. On the other hand, Samsung excels in this department. All of its Android flagships come with juicy pre-order freebies and discounts. Be it free Galaxy Watches or Galaxy Buds, Samsung has always given early buyers a good enough reason to pick up its most premium handsets at launch. Similarly, Google has offered pre-order bonuses and goodies with Pixel phones since the very beginning. Last year, it threw in free Pixel Watches and Pixel Buds Pro with the Pixel 7 series. OnePlus is yet another example of a brand known to give out pre-order discounts and bundles.

Clearly, Android phone makers are doing a much better job of giving customers good pre-order deals. Apple doesn’t do that, and we don’t see its tactics changing with the release of the iPhone 15 series. Plus, the company is more than capable of meeting demand for the new iPhones, so it’s not like there will be a shortage, and you won’t be able to pick one up later. In fact, as time passes, Apple should be able to improve the availability of different iPhone 15 models. Only if you’re a die-hard Apple fan and want the newest iPhone on day one should you consider pre-ordering the iPhone 15. Otherwise, jumping the gun comes with no benefits at all and could actually be disadvantageous for you. How? Read on.

New iPhones usually have issues that come to the forefront only after they’ve been released. Just last year, the iPhone 14 series had plenty of problems in its early days. Buggy iOS 16 software made it impossible for buyers to activate their phones over Wi-Fi. Horizontal green and yellow lines flashed across the display of the phones as soon as they started reaching customers. iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max users faced camera rattling and shaking issues thanks to a new OIS system on the phones. There was even an annoying copy-paste prompt popping up ever so frequently on the devices.

All of these issues were later addressed and resolved by Apple, but customers definitely suffered the brunt of their impulsive day-one purchases. This is another reason you might want to wait a while before buying an iPhone 15. If there are software kinks at launch, you’ll know about them soon enough and Apple will become aware of the issues and start rolling out fixes. So you can buy your iPhone 15 once all the bugs are ironed out and avoid a bad experience.

As we’ve said before, Apple doesn’t offer any pre-order deals on new iPhones if you buy unlocked models directly from the company. However, you can get iPhone deals in the form of installment plans, bill credits, and other trade-in discounts from carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. If you don’t want to be locked into a particular network, you can wait a few months and pick up the iPhone 15 once the earliest festive sales kick in.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales will follow soon after the iPhone 15 series launch. This is when you can expect Apple resellers to offer discounts on the phones. Prices may not drop much, but you could get other incentives with your purchase. In any case, it doesn’t hurt to wait and see what kind of deals you can get. Christmas sales in December might also be a good time to scout for iPhone 15 deals. Apple’s supply will also catch up to demand by then, which means you’ll be able to get the color and variant of your choice without having to scramble or wait.

Of course, if you’re willing to hold off even longer, you might find the best iPhone 15 deals around summer or spring next year. That’s usually when you’ll see some relaxation on prices of the newest iPhones, not from Apple, but from third-party retailers.