iPhone 13 pre-orders are now live, but for many buyers paying with Apple Pay, Apple Card, or using the iPhone Upgrade Program, the experience has been anything but seamless. According to reports on Twitter, the Apple Store Online and Apple Store app presented a variety of errors for users trying to complete the iPhone 13 checkout process.
The iPhone 13 pre-order experience worked well for many shoppers this morning, particularly for those who took advantage of the new pre-save option that launched earlier this week. For some people, however, the experience was incredibly frustrating under the following conditions:
- Paying with Apple Card
- Upgrading through the iPhone Upgrade Program
- Paying with Apple Pay
Citizens One, Apple’s partner bank for the iPhone Upgrade Program, appears to be suffering from a variety of issues on iPhone 13 pre-order morning. Even for those buyers who were pre-approved for their yearly upgrade, the Apple Store application and website have both been rejecting applications. In some instances, the iPhone Upgrade Program option simply doesn’t show up.
Apple Pay in the Apple Store application and via the Apple Store Online has also been incredibly buggy this morning. Users report that they are unable to check out using Apple Pay, and instead must enter their card details manually.
Finally, and perhaps most notably, the Apple Card processing system appears to be suffering from a variety of bugs this morning. Users report that they were seemingly unable to pay for their iPhone 13 using Apple Card, but other payment methods worked as normal. But of course, this means you miss out on the 3% Daily Cash if you don’t pay with Apple Card.
Were you able to successfully place an iPhone 13 pre-order this morning? Did you have any issues with the iPhone Upgrade Program, Apple Card, or Apple Pay? Let us know down in the comments!
https://twitter.com/chartier/status/1438844879937867780
https://twitter.com/jperlow/status/1438840095252094979
https://twitter.com/ThisIsNoahEvans/status/1438839852649299975
https://twitter.com/zmknox/status/1438840086708330500?s=21
Pre-order process was brutal for me and Katherine, but we got through it. For some reason, the iPhone Upgrade Program would not allow us to pay with our Apple Card. 🤔 So we had to switch to another card on the fly. Not fun.
— Devon Dundee (@devondundee) September 17, 2021
Sounds like a lot of folks, myself included, had major issues with iPhone pre-orders this morning if using the Apple Card.
— Chris Van Patten (@ChrisVanPatten) September 17, 2021
https://twitter.com/marietweetss/status/1438840391608848389?s=21
Citizens One not taking Apple Card was not on my Bingo card for this year’s iPhone cycle.
— Craig Hockenberry (@chockenberry) September 17, 2021
Maybe the most Apple bug ever: they open iPhone preorders and their Apple Card backend crashed within 2 minutes. Had to check out with my Amex and will have to redo the transaction to get 3% back later. Neat pic.twitter.com/9xAcLd2eYV
— Justin Searls (@searls) September 17, 2021
— Max Seelemann (@macguru17) September 17, 2021Who at Apple decided that it was smart to launch a new iPhone simultaneously worldwide?
Haven’t gotten a single CC payment through in 30 minutes. Cancelled like 10 times. Paypal eventually worked.
Used to be 9am local time. Seems much smarter…
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