Samsung's New Galaxy S4 Hits Supply Snags in US

Supply issues have snarled the U.S. rollout of Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, which will go on sale at carriers Sprint and T-Mobile later than expected, the wireless service providers said on Wednesday. Samsung attributed the disruption to unexpectedly strong demand for the Galaxy S4, the South Korean company's direct challenge to Apple iPhone.

 "Due to overwhelming global demand of Galaxy S4, the initial supply may be limited. We expect to fulfill inventory to meet demands in the coming weeks," the company said in a statement. At T-Mobile, online orders will now begin April 29 instead of Wednesday as initially planned because of "an unexpected delay with inventory deliveries." Sprint will take online orders starting Saturday as planned, but the phone will be sold at retail outlets only as it becomes available.

"We had planned to launch this next generation of the award-winning Samsung Galaxy line-up on Saturday," Sprint said in a statement. "Unfortunately, due to unexpected inventory challenges from Samsung, we will be slightly delayed with our full product launch." AT&T, on the other hand, said everything was on track and the S4 would go on sale this Saturday as planned.