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iPhone 5S now ships from Apple within 24 hours

The new estimate is down from the prior wait time of 1 to 3 business days late last week.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
Apple's iPhone 5S.
Apple's iPhone 5S. Sarah Tew/CNET

Consumers who buy the iPhone 5S from Apple's online store now have to wait just a day or less before it ships.

The new wait time of "within 24 hours" applies to all capacities and flavors of the 5S, both Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi+Cellular through AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. The unlocked version through T-Mobile shows a ship time of one to three business days, while the unlocked, SIM-free edition imposes a wait of three to five days.

The new ship time reveals Apple's and its suppliers increasing progress at meeting heavy iPhone demand. The estimate had dropped to one to three days just late last week, which was down from two to three weeks on November 19.

The 5S also is more readily available on the shelves of Apple's retail stores. A survey of 60 Apple stores conducted last week by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster found that 100 percent of all 5S models could be found at each store.