The dates on the website are absolutely for people ordering now. The problem is that EE customer services are also saying this for preorders who placed their orders on the 12th.
iPhone launch stock usually arrives in one burst. EE would have told Apple pre 12/09 how much stock they wanted and Apple would have confirmed how much they could send. EE would then sell back orders until that assumed stock is consumed.
The problem is that Apple rarely send what they promised and the variance between promise and reality varies wildly based on model, colour and memory variants so EE would have fulfilled the back orders on a first come first serve basis and then anyone left over would have to wait for normal stock to start flowing which in this case is 14-28 days later.
the safest assumption is that whatever it says on the website is what we’ll get because if you haven’t been notified that your phone is on the way by DPD by now, they most likely have run out of pre-order stock and you’re condemned to wait until normal stock starts flowing unless Apple has reserve stock they are freeing up
