Yesterday the folks from Mountain View put their LG Nexus 4 smartphone up for sale on the Google Play Store for the second time in two weeks, and it sold out pretty much just as fast as the first round. Google’s new Nexus is either extremely popular and seeing an unaccounted for demand, or they need some serious work on their sales skills. The Play Store became almost unusable as Google warned users they still had stock, and to keep trying as it was experiencing a heavy load. Now lets talk shipping.

In case you can’t see the sad and depressing image above, last night Google updated their shipping estimates for the Nexus 4 — and brace yourself — 8 to 9 weeks for the 8GB Nexus 4. Seriously? Two months or more? So much for Christmas gifts, New Years, and any December birthdays. You can toss all of those ideas out the window. By then we’ll probably have Android 4.3 Key Lime Pie on the Horizon.

Jokes aside that is pretty terrible. Google and LG apparently are having some serious trouble keeping up with the demand. That or this is a ploy to get tons of attention — and it’s working. Google’s 8GB Nexus 4 is a great deal at $299, but sadly it isn’t set to ship for 8-9 weeks. The 16GB model is priced slightly higher and those estimates are sitting around 4-5 weeks. This means those probably won’t arrive until after Christmas too.

First time around they switched it to full on “Sold out” but now it appears they are leaving the device in stock, and instead just posting some painful and increasingly longer ship times. The picture above basically sums up what Google needs to do, and that is “round up the troops and get er done.” Sadly this is most likely an inventory problem more than anything. Yesterday evening these ship times were 1-2 weeks and 5-6 weeks. It seems like now the dust has settled Google’s realized just how many they need to ship.

Hopefully these are just “estimates” and Google gets some stock in and begins shipping these devices in the next 2-3 weeks. If users end up waiting 8 weeks we have a feeling there will be a few angry customers soon. We’ll be sure to monitor this disaster of a device launch, and update if the ship times get better or worse. Who purchased a Nexus 4 yesterday? If you did will you be canceling if you have to wait this long? Let us know below in the comments!

[device id=3766]

[via Play Store]

21 COMMENTS

  1. I’m ordering my 16GB Nexus 4 on Friday. I don’t care if I have to wait 4-5 weeks.

    I’m on Sprint with a $77+ bill every month. I’m used to slow things.

    Slow updates.
    Slow internet.
    Slow (and unstable) Nexus S 4G because Sprint is dragging their ass on 4.1.2 which actually makes it more stable.

    I can wait 4 – 5 weeks as long as Google takes my money on Friday. I’ll just move to Straight Talk AT&T when it’s here. Funny, prepaid AT&T is still faster than postpaid Sprint. 😛

    • Easy. Ebay scammers and DailySteals who buy up TONS and TONS of phones just to sell them all for their own profit. That’s what happened last time.

      Daily Steals just recently had a “sale”. Nexus 4s for $500. They bought them all from the Store and sold them back to people for a high price.

      When you have multiple people doing that, then you run out of stock easy.

      I blamed Google at first too but after seeing all of the eBayers and then Daily Steal’s scummy sale, I’m not so sure anymore.

  2. My order from yesterday says 6-7 weeks ship time and 2 day shipping,I use Striaght Talk with a IPhone 4 and don’t never want to go back on contract so I don’t think I’ll cancel as better deal than IP5 or note2

  3. Just a thought…. If this were the iPhone, you all would be rolling on the floor about how idiotic the iSheep are for waiting 2 months(?) for an an already released device.

    Thats exactly what i see here for a device with not so stellar (youll see by Q2 2013) specs, sealed battery, anemic non-expendable memory, no LTE(the future), mediocre camera etc. At least the iPhone has a good camera and good storage options.

    People please dont become Nex-Sheep.

    • The draw here is the price. Getting a top phone for such a low price out of contract will result in substantial savings. It also provides the freedom to switch carriers or phones whenever one likes. So if a superphone gets released next year, one can sell the Nexus 4 and buy the new device.
      The benefits far outweigh the cons of the device (no LTE, sealed battery etc).

  4. Ordered Nov 27. 16 GB. First it was cancelled 12/3 due to credit card problems..? Called AMEX and they said No attempt made to bill phone. Re-did/resubmitted (same) order. Playstore says phone shipped 12/6… Hmmm…No charge on my card..again. 5 e mails and 2 calls later I got my phone -15 days after it was supposedly shipped the first time. I hope the phone turns out to be worth the frustration factor expended to get it.

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