Fantastic info, exactly what I was looking for - thanks! I will try my luck, should be funThe apple stores get restocks regularly (but not all phones each day so you might have to wait a couple of days for the “right” one). I don’t know if they keep some on the side for walk ups or if you can reserve all of them for “in store pick up”.
That’s what I did last year. Mid October delivery dates were still deep down in November. So I checked each morning if my desired phone combo was back in stock and available for in Store pickup. When it finally did, I reserved it and picked it up in the afternoon. It took me 3-4 days instead of 2-3 weeks waiting for the delivery.
I am not exactly sure if it is known “when” exactly the inventory is updated…
Maybe some more “pro” people can help out there…
But I think I checked a couple of times just before/after posted opening time.