[alayne]

I think it's also a good idea to wait a month or so after release. What's the rush? Let the first production runs go through and work out the kinks. So far I have heard some reports of screen issues on some 5s models. With a new and unusual part like the fingerprint sensor I'd rather wait a bit.

[mikeash]

Personally, my rush was that I needed a device with an A7 in it for testing purposes. If it wasn't for that, I'd be right there with you and would have just ordered online and waited.

[alayne]

That makes sense. I'm hoping the 64 bit simulator is good enough for now.

[mikeash]

It will be for almost everybody, as long as you have someone somewhere with a 5S to use for a sanity check before you ship.

In my case, there was some code dealing with low-level stack walking and such that really needed the actual hardware in hand. Not a common case, to be sure.