We already knew that Samsung had inventory issues with the Exynos 5 Octa, which is why it’s not coming to many countries. But now we are starting to see more inventory issues for Samsung. Last night, T-Mobile changed the date of their presale from today to April 29th. This morning, we heard that Sprint had to push back their release of the Galaxy S4 as well, while AT&T is shipping the Galaxy S4 starting last night.
Samsung reached out to AllThingsD and told them “Due to overwhelming global demand of Galaxy S4, the initial supply may be limited”, they went on to say that “we expect to fulfill inventory to meet demands in the coming weeks.” So it looks like if you were hoping to get your Galaxy S4 on launch day, you may be disappointed.
Verizon is doing their best to skip this whole inventory problem with Samsung. They are opening pre-orders up tomorrow, and launching the next generation Galaxy S on May 30th. Is it just me or is that a long pre-order period? But it appears that only those that pre-ordered their Galaxy S4 from AT&T before Tuesday will be getting their Galaxy S4 this week.
We aren’t sure what the inventory issues consist of. It could be processor, displays, who knows. But HTC had inventory issues too, which made the HTC One launch later than expected, so now it looks like it’s Samsung’s turn. If anything, this is good news for HTC as it gives their flagship a bit more time in the spotlight before the Galaxy S4 comes out and outshines it.
How many of you are disappointed in this news from Samsung and it’s partners? We’ll be keeping tabs on Samsung and the Galaxy S4, as soon as we hear more about launch dates and shipping dates, we’ll be sure to pass it along to you.