There's no denying the buzz around Samsung's Galaxy S4 - a phone we bestowed a near-perfect score to in our review of it - but there are some raindrops falling on what would otherwise be a pretty sunny parade.
Both T-Mobile and Sprint revealed this week that each will have delays in making the S4 available.
For its part, Samsung sent TechRadar a statement explaining that high demand is leading to delays:
"Due to overwhelming global demand of Galaxy S4, the initial supply may be limited," it read. "We expect to fulfill inventory to meet demands in the coming weeks."
S4 blues
Sprint and T-Mobile turned the blame right on the manufacturer.
"We had planned to launch this next generation of the award-winning Samsung Galaxy line-up on Saturday, April 27," a statement from Sprint read. "Unfortunately, due to unexpected inventory challenges from Samsung, we will be slightly delayed with our full product launch."
The carrier expects to have the phone available online and via Telesales orders on Saturday as planned, with retail locations and other avenues receiving the phone as inventory becomes available.
A representative for the carrier couldn't give us a specific date on when the Galaxy S4 will be available in stores, but did say that Sprint will do what it can to get pre-orders out to customers by Saturday.
In a statement that rivaled Sprint's for brevity, T-Mobile revealed Tuesday that due to an unanticipated delay with inventory deliveries, the S4 won't jump on the carrier's website today as planned.
"Instead, online availability is expected to begin on Monday, April 29," the statement read.
There's no word on a change to the phone's availability in physical retail stores, which the "Un-carrier" stated will start May 1.
Some welcome words
While Sprint and T-Mo customers wait, Verizon took to Twitter today to finally give up some specifics on the phone's pre-order and in store availability.
"Pre-order #GS4 on Verizon network starting 4/25; in stores 5/30; $199.99 w/ 2-year contract after $50 mail-in rebate," tweeted Ken Muche, PR for Verizon.
Even though the @VZWken account took some heat for the month-later-than-everyone-else date and rebate, perhaps Verizon will actually make good on its promise to deliver the phone on the day it says it will, unlike some other carriers we know (*cough* *cough*).
Just kidding, guys.
Two carriers that don't seem beset by delays are AT&T and U.S. Cellular.
The latter revealed today said the phone will go on sale online April 26 with retail stores receiving the phone April 30. Customers who pre-ordered the handset should see their S4s ship Friday.
AT&T, which plans to start selling the 16GB version of the phone April 27, told TechRadar: "We're on track."
