Nexus 6 Pre-Orders Now Shipping

Today we received good news as the Google Nexus 6 release is officially here. After nearly one month since being first announced back on October 15th, Google’s new smartphone has begun shipping today to those who pre-ordered the handset.

While an official Nexus 6 release date was never actually announced, as Google is allowing each of the five major carriers to release the new flagship smartphone throughout the month, your first chance is today from Sprint. However, if you’re one of the lucky few that managed to pre-order, we’re now hearing they’ll start shipping today.

Read: Nexus 6 Review

The entire Nexus 6 release date and pre-order process was quite poor. Details have been hard to come by, stock for pre-orders was on even shorter supply than release date details, and overall it has been frustrating for potential buyers. That being said, good news arrived yesterday and today as both Motorola.com and Google Play pre-orders are now shipping to buyers.

While many expected T-Mobile to be the first carrier to offer the new Nexus 6 on November 12th like they announced back in October, days before the 12th T-Mobile delayed the release. Stating they needed another week to provide the best experience for customers. This was likely a move to procure more stock before release day, to keep customers happy.

That means November 12th was no longer the first day to get the new Nexus 6, and instead it’s available today, November 14th from Sprint for $299 with a new 2-year contract, or on monthly payment plans. We’re hearing stock is still hard to come by, and many buyers have simply chose to order it online from Sprint.com instead.

Carrier release dates aside, this is about pre-orders. If you pre-ordered the Nexus 6 from the Google Play Store on October 29th when they first became available, or managed to find it in stock and order on a few Wednesdays after that, you may have received a shipping notification. Today we’ve also received confirmation that Motorola.com pre-orders are going out today for a November 19th delivery date. Instead of the original 21st expected date we heard from both parties.

Above is a screenshot from one user, showing his Motorola.com Nexus 6 order shipped today directly from the manufacturing warehouse in China. It’s still expected to arrive in the United States by Wednesday the 19th, making that the day most buyers will get their new smartphone.

At the same time, multiple reports have confirmed Google is shipping Play Store pre-orders early too, and many of those buyers chose 1 or 2-day shipping, meaning they’ll start hitting doorsteps on Monday or Tuesday of next week. It’s officially Nexus time, just in time for the holidays.

Read: Nexus 6 vs Galaxy Note 4: Size Comparison

It appears as if all Nexus 6 pre-orders are starting to ship today, but are coming directly from China. For buyers this means there are potential shipping delays, but FedEx labels still show November 19th and 20th arrival dates for most. These phones are fresh off the assembly line and running the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop right from Google.

In the past ordered from Google have shipped from California, or the distribution warehouses in Louisville. With these Nexus 6 pre-orders all coming straight to China, it looks like inventory could be low for quite some time.

Hopefully a large part of the low stock issues are because all five major carriers in the United States are offering the Nexus 6 this year, a first for any Nexus smartphone, but until those release dates arrive and the phone hits shelves, we won’t know just how hard it is to get your hands on a Nexus 6. All said and done, they’ll be in the hands of eager buyers and consumers as soon as this weekend, or early next week.