The Apple Store website was out of commission Tuesday morning — hours before the launch of the tech giant’s latest and most expensive iPhone.
The company’s landing page read: “Be right back. We’re making updates to the Apple Store. Check back soon.”
The blacked-out screen also featured a blue-and-gray animated Apple logo — the same emblem that’s been used to promote “Wonderlust,” the name of the iPhone 15 launch event — with a working link to the livestream.
Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to reveal the latest version of the company’s most popular product at 1 p.m. ET from Apple Park’s Steve Jobs Theater at the firm’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.
It is unclear whether the site “crashed” because of a crush of interest in the iPhone 15 or whether the company is revamping its online marketplace, which sells the full array of Apple products.
Representatives for Apple did not immediately respond to noti.group’s request for comment.
The iPhone 15 — which will come in three models ranging in price from $799 for the standard version to a $1,099 for the Pro Max option, a $100 increase from the iPhone 14 — is expected to go on sale Sept. 22.
The company has not released an official date the device will hit shelves but Apple routinely releases a new iPhone each year around that date.
The iPhone 15 will have a USB-C standard charging port — the same charger that is used for Android devices — after the European Union imposed new rules requiring the company to offer the port on its phones, laptops, iPads and other devices.
Apple has long resisted the change, instead preferring to stick to its proprietary Lightning charging port.
Fans have been particularly eager for the reveal of a rumored new feature — an Action Button.
Software sleuths said that Apple’s iOS beta 4 version includes code that could indicate plans for an Action button which would “allow users to quickly access various functions and settings without necessarily unlocking the device or navigating to an app,” according to Apple fan site MacRumors.
The site speculated that the new physical button could have similarities with the Apple Watch Ultra’s Action button “but with more phone-focused options.”
Apple introduced the concept of the physical “home” button on its iPhones, but it ditched the concept with the advent of iPhone X.
The button will also offer options such as shortcuts to app, silent mode, the camera and video app, the flashlight and the translate app, according to MacRumors.
“If the rumors are correct, the Action button could be one of the key new features that makes the iPhone 15 Pro stand out from its predecessors,” the site wrote.
Shares of Apple, which was the first to cross the $3 trillion market capitalization threshold but has since retreated, were up down over 0.4%, at $178.63, in the early morning hours of trading on Wall Street on Tuesday.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
