Want a gold iPhone 5S? Get ready to wait

The gold iPhone 5S has quickly become as rare as gold.

Apple kicked off sales of the iPhone 5S and cheaper iPhone 5C today, and it quickly became apparent that it couldn’t keep up with demand for the new gold 5S. The Verge reports that Apple’s gold iPhone 5S supply was in limited supply for today’s launch, while the Wall Street Journal notes that Apple is increasing production of the model by a third to meet strong demand in Hong Kong and elsewhere.

What does this mean for you? If you wanted a gold iPhone 5S today, you needed to be fast with your mousing finger when sales opened up this morning, or be ready and waiting in line at a local carrier or electronics store. At the time of this post, Apple’s online stores in the U.S., UK, and Australia say that the gold 5S won’t ship until next month (and good luck finding a retail store with one in stock).

The gold iPhone 5S’s limited supply isn’t too surprising: Unlike previous iPhone releases, Apple didn’t offer preorders for the 5S. That was a clear sign that it wouldn’t have many units available for today. Instead, Apple has been pushing preorders (and most of its marketing) around the multi-colored iPhone 5C, which is powered by hardware from last year’s iPhone 5, making it easier to produce.

At the time of this post, Apple’s online store lists the iPhone 5C with shipment times of one to three days from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, while availability of iPhone 5S colors ranges from a few days to seven to 10 business days across all three carriers. T-Mobile is also carrying both models, but it’s tough to tell availability from its website.