AT&T Pushes Back Samsung Galaxy S3 Release Date to June 28th
Update (June 28th 2:43pm ET): Just did a similar exercise with T-Mobile and Sprint to check their release dates in local stores of the major markets. T-Mobile appears to be the winner in this race. I put in calls to six regions in the country, the cities include Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Miami, and New York. Here’s what I found:
T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 Released and (sort of) Available Now
T-Mobile may have came up with a much better streamlined release plan for the release of the Samsung Galaxy S3. According to a Houston T-Mobile store rep, all the stores that she knew of in the Houston area received exactly 3 units. Their plan appears to just get enough out in the stores to get customers interested and confirm that they have indeed released the phone nation-wide. But get this, the most interesting part of the conversation was that all the stores only received the blue version of the Galaxy S3. She does not expect the stores in her area to receive any white versions until August! Of course, this is only one rep’s perspective. She currently has a wait-list that’s 30 deep, and expects to fill them in the next week or so.
When I called the Seattle store, the rep happens to be checking in the shipment, of which, there was one 16GB white Galaxy S3 right at the top. He suggested I come down to the store immediately if I wanted to get my hands on that sucker.
Los Angeles store in Westwood confirmed shipment 2 days ago, but sold out immediately. Expects more next week. New York downtown store got 3, and sold out immediately. Chicago store rep said about 5 stores in Chicago got its pre-launch units last Thursday, and their store received 9 yesterday and 4 today, and again, all sold out immediately. As for Miami –Nada.
Sprint Samsung Galaxy S3 Release Date July 1st (Sunday)
Like AT&T, Sprint is still trying to figure things out. All the stores at least had the same answer in so many words – check back Sunday July 1st, that will be the “release date” for Sprint.
Update (June 28h 12:02pm ET): With AT&T originally scheduled to release the Samsung Galaxy S3 in stores today, my plan was to call AT&T stores around the country to check the availability in each store. At this point, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the consensus was none of the stores had them available.
I called two stores each in the largest markets: New York, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. My expectations going in was each store may get two or three units and they would be sold out as soon as the doors opened. It was disappointing to hear that none of these stores I called had them available. According to a few sales reps, the employees received an email late last night that the availability of the Samsung Galaxy S3 is still to be determined. Yup, the dreaded generic TBD answer.
Since nobody seems to be optimistic they will receive shipment in the next couple days, the best guess right now is Sunday July 1st. Stay tuned…
Update (June 28h 01:52am ET): After a week of silence and delay issues, Sprint has finally announced that they will be releasing the Samsun Galaxy s3 on July 1st, which is this coming Sunday
Update (June 26th 02:52pm ET): It has been 5 days since Sprint and T-Mobile’s original release date, I figured the delay mess should be resolved by now. So I decided to drop by a few retail stores to inquire about the availability of the phone.
Generally, you can tell by the sale reps’ tone that they’re pretty exhausted from answering questions about this phone (or perhaps it’s just a New York thing). Here’s what I found from the 3 stores:
Sprint – Expecting to receive shipment and release tomorrow (June 27th), for this specific location, the sales reps thinks they will get a shipment of around 20 units (which I highly doubt). He suggested I check with the corporate store in uptown to see if they have any available, he seemed to think they’re already selling the units in that location. So I put in a call to the corporate store, and of course, got an emphatic “no”, and to check back “end of the month”. Sounds like this release will continue to drag on…
T-mobile – The fact that this location only had one sales rep present in the entire store pretty much already answered my question. I cut to the front of the line to ask quickly if they had the S3 available, and like the Sprint store, the sales rep seems to think they will be getting a shipment tomorrow. Although, she was a bit more specific, saying they will get getting 3 units, and 2 of which have already been reserved. This sounds a bit more reasonable to me. Perhaps T-Mobile is turning the corner…
AT&T- Sale rep stands by the July 28th release date that we reported last week, which is only two days away. I shall check back with them…
Update (June 21th 04:52pm ET): Sounds like several AT&T customers have gotten the following (maddening…discouraging) text message regarding their order.
Due to manufacturer supply constraints of the 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy SIII, your new smartphone will now arrived no latter than Monday, June 25th
Update (June 21th 04:20pm ET): One of our readers, Luis, was one of the few people who have gotten the Samsung Galaxy S3 from his online order. Apparently, he received both of his new orders this morning. One in blue and another in white. Luis was gracious enough to share with us the photos of his new toys. Guess the folks at AT&T aren’t complete a*@!@#&* since some people did receive their phone!
Update (June 21th 08:23 am ET): Dropped by another larger store, also no S3 available. ; This rep confidently said that the phone will be available in stores on June 28th.
Update (June 21th 07:40 am ET): Just dropped by a local AT&T store here in New York, and the store manager sounded as confused as anybody. ; He said they’re not carrying the S3 yet and he did not know when the phone will be available in stores.
To be clear, the June 21st release date sounds like it’s for the online orders of the blue model mostly. ; We have not heard of anybody getting shipping confirmation for the white model. ; The initial word was that online orders should be shipped “on or around June 28th”. ; People who are receiving shipment today appeared to have all ordered online prior to June 18th.
Basically sounds like, if you ordered the white model OR if you ordered on or after June 18th, your shipment will be delayed to around the 28th.
Update (June 20th 10:00 pm ET): The Samsung Galaxy SIII will be available in AT&T stores on 6/21. We’re getting conflicting reports, but we received words from AT&T reps that the phones should be available by tomorrow in stores! ; Apologize for any confusion! ; also, see below for T-Mobile’s release plan.
As expected, the frenzy is hitting all the carrier stores. ; Sprint and T-Mobile were suppose to get their shipment by this morning for a release today (June 21st). ; But that’s obviously hit a snag. ; Call me crazy, but Verizon is probably laughing at the other big 3 now for the ambitious launch date, they now look like the only carrier that has a chance keep their word about the July 10th release date.
Recent reports indicate that US carrier AT&T has pushed back the release date of Samsung Galaxy S3 to June 28th. At first, the company boasts being the first operator in the US to be able to distribute the North American variant of the popular handset having June 21st as the arrival date for pre-ordered units. ; Even though the device has been available on Amazon for $189.99, it’s been showing as back ordered all week. ; But to clear the air about the release date, we’ve had user confirmed their online purchased Galaxy S3 (of the blue model) has been shipped and will arrive tomorrow.
Other carriers like T-Mobile and Sprint said they would stick to their first announcement of having GS3 shipped in the last week of June but it seems like AT&T will have to join others with the new timetable. There is information available explaining the delay but analysts believe it could be traced down to the production line because apparently, Apple’s patent claims could never affect the arrival of the products from the manufacturer. Moreover, there is no information if those who pre-ordered the device earlier would be affected by a week slip of the release date.
All major carriers in the US will be offering Galaxy S3 to their customers. AT&T has been the one making almost all of the buzz of its upcoming offering. If there would be one to become so frustrated about the delay, then that would be it because obviously its customers who paid earlier for the device should have been expecting to get it before everybody does. For now, it is unclear who to blame for this delay. If it were Samsung, then it has underestimated the popularity of its own product.
Among the many reasons why Samsung Galaxy S3 became so popular is the fact that it is sporting quad-core Exynos processor clocked at a higher frequency and paired with powerful graphics processor. However, in the pursuit of dominating 4G LTE market, Samsung built variants with lower specs. Thus, it is expected that North American owners who will seek to use LTE connectivity under any network will be getting just the dual-core version.
Nonetheless, this variant would be as competitive as it has been. But for now, looks like we still have to wait until North American carriers would be able to get hold of the device for distribution.
Samsung Galaxy S3 Release Date For T-Mobile
After a little digging, we found some news on T-Mobile’s release plans for the Galaxy S3. ; According to TmoNews, T-Mobile intends on releasing the Galaxy S3 in the top 29 markets and also on T-Mobile.com in its first release wave on June 21st (tomorrow). ; The top markets include the usual suspects, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, etc. (see full list below). ; ; Then, pending availability, existing customers will be able to upgrade to the phone on June 27th. ; The phone will be sold for $629.99 retail, and $229.99 with two year contract. ; That would be in the higher range compared to the other major carriers. ; AT&T so far has the best price on Amazon for $189.99.
Per TmoNews, important channels for purchase are as followed:
- National Retail Launches: Limited inventory at Walmart and Costco beginning June 21st at all locations
- T-Mobile.com June 21st: Pebble Blue in 16 and 32GB sizes, only Pebble Blue ships at launch, Marble White in 16GB and 32GB launch details are to-be-determined
- myT-Mobile.com: Target is june 27th for availability , pending inventory levels
- Telesales: Said to have “higher” levels of inventory
Here are the top 29 markets releasing the phone tomorrow.
- LosAngeles,CA
- Chicago,IL
- Phoenix,AZ
- Houston,TX
- SanDiego,CA
- NewYork,NY
- Seattle,WA
- Miami/Ft.Lauderdale,FL
- Dallas/Ft.Worth,TX
- SanFrancisco,CA
- SaltLakeCity,UT
- Denver,CO
- Minneapolis,MN
- Tampa/St.Petersburg,FL
- Philadelphia,PA
- SanAntonio,TX
- Portland,OR
- Austin,TX
- Atlanta,GA
- KansasCity,MO
- Boston,MA
- Sacramento,CA
- Orlando,FL
- Detroit,MI
- WashingtonDC*
- Cleveland,OH
- Jacksonville,FL
- Charlotte,NC
- McAllen,TX
Just conformation, my order has shipped via Fed Ex. Delivery for 6/21!
that’s tomorrow. exciting stuff! please report back on your thoughts on the phone!
Boooo!
Just because it’s not me… lol
Enjoy, Steve!
You say “Just a dual-core” like it’s a bad thing. Quad core’s a nice sales pitch but the fact is, there’s absolutely nothing on the mobile market or amount of multitasking on a mobile device that requires 4 cores worth of processing power. The Qualcom Snapdragon s4 is a very capable processor that will in some instances outperform the Exynos 4. Two of the more noticeable areas being network speeds and battery life. While the Exynos 4 is powerful, it doesn’t support 4G LTE capability and that’s a drag considering that network speed is one of the biggest attractions when you’re advertising a mobile device. That means the US model will be provided with a RAM boost from 1.5 to 2 gigs, the Qualcom Snapdragon s4 processor with 4G capability, above average battery life so on and so forth. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.
On the other hand, the US version has a vastly inferior last generation GPU (Adreno 225) compared to the fastest GPU on the phone market right now (Mali-400), and possibly inferior audio (US version seems to lack Wolfson). And battery life? Do you even know how battery draining LTE is? The US version certainly isn’t the superior version like you’re portraying it as. Both versions have its pros and cons.
My pre-order just updated a few minutes ago. Still says the order is processing, but also states that it shipped on 3/19 yet no carrier or tracking has been provided. I’m hopeful it’ll be there tomorrow.
I just got off the phone with a AT&T rep and he told me that they would be in stores tomorrow so I don’t know where you getting your info but it’s wrong
I placed my pre-order on Monday, all week it showed back ordered and a few hours ago I got a fedex tracking confirmation that it shipped today Standard overnight.
Um, its the 21st now. Does that mean it’ll be on display in the AT&T stores when i go today?
yup, that’s the word according to the AT&T rep. go check out the stores tomorrow and let us know if it works out…
Alright I’m gonna. I’m on Verizon but I really want to play with the phone. This thing has packed so much hype into me it’s ridiculous.
It should be available at Verizon on July 10th, you got a few weeks to play with it
Got an email from AT&T earlier this evening that my Pebble Blue S III was shipped via Fedex Next Day Air and will be delivered by 3:00pm tomorrow 6-21. Probably will have trouble sleeping tonight!
hmm…that’s weird. My co-worker pre-ordered on June 6 and his status still shows back-ordered.
I ordered it June 8th and my status still shows as backordered as well :/
I preordered the day after preorders were first available and its still on backorder.. im upset thinking i would finally have it by today!
The white one’s from AT&T are not shipping out for some reason. Only the blue will be delivered on the promised date SUX!
Did anyone get confirmation for the white one? I pre-ordered mine on June 10th, but no update on the website yet.
I did. Placed order on June 6 AM and just got an email saying it was shipped today, June 21.