Apple Watch Series 7 orders preparing to ship ahead of October 15 launch

Apple Watch Series 7 (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

Apple Watch Series 7 orders are already preparing to ship.
Preorders for the Series 7 went live on Friday, October 8 at 5:00 AM PDT.
The watch will officially launch on Friday, October 15.

Some Apple Watch Series 7 customers are already getting notifications that their new watch is preparing to ship.

As spotted by 9to5Mac, some customers who preordered the Series 7 are now seeing the status of their order change from "Processing" to "Preparing to Ship."

While the Apple Watch Series 7 launch date was a mystery during the "California Streaming" keynote, Apple is not wasting anymore time. After pre-orders started on Friday, some customers have already received the notification that the product is preparing to ship.

Apple Watch Series 7 Preparing To Ship (Image credit: 9to5Mac)

This is expected behavior for a preorder from Apple. Products usually change to this status shortly after the customer places the order, especially during the preorder season. The Apple Watch Series 7 will officially launch on Friday, October 15, so it is reasonable to think that the company will begin shipping those orders within the next few days to ensure customers have them on their doorstep by this coming Friday.

Preorders for the Apple Watch Series 7 went live on Friday, October 8 at 5:00 AM PDT. As rumored, Apple appears to be struggling with inventory on its latest smartwatch, with shipment times already extending out until November for many configurations. Apple Store pickup is also unavailable for a range of configurations at the moment.

If you haven't gotten a preorder for launch day, your best bet is to look at other retailers who may have been overlooked and still have inventory. You can also try your luck at your local Apple Store when the Series 7 officially launches on Friday, October 15. It's certainly not guaranteed, but Apple has been known in the past to reserve a certain amount of inventory for customers who show up at the store hoping to grab a model on launch day.

Apple Watch Series 7 | From $399 at Apple

You can, of course, go straight to the source for your Apple Watch Series 7 pre-order. It retails for $399 for the entry-level GPS-only model with Cellular-enabled configurations also available.

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.

Latest in Apple Watch 7