Fans start queuing for the iPhone 5S and 5C in London ahead of 20 September launch

(@wilkes888)

Queues for the new iPhone 5S and 5C have started in the UK, with the first diehard Apple fan spotted outside the company’s flagship London store on Regent Street.

The iPhone 5C can currently be pre-ordered from Apple’s own website, but the 5S won’t be released until 20 September. This is two days after the roll-out of IOS 7, the latest update of the company’s mobile operating system.

Spotted by Instagram user @wilkes888 Apple’s anonymous fan in London has still been beaten in their enthusiasm by customers in the US and Japan.

One American fan began queuing outside the Apple store in New York on 6 September, four days before the new phones had even been unveiled.

Reports from Japan Today also mentioned a 44-year-old businessman who started queuing on 12 September, telling reporters that he had used his annual leave to get the first handset in the country, and that he was using social media to connect with his fans.

Although these extra-early birds might seem like victims of consumer hysteria, they sometimes have more benevolent motives.

Prior to last year’s launch of the iPhone 5, the first two fans outside London’s Regent Street Apple store used the media attention they received to raise awareness for a (now apparently defunct) charity, ‘The Hope Boutique Bakery’.