Launch day supply of Apple's iPhone X was exhausted mere minutes after the handset went up for sale early Friday, with rabid demand driving delivery estimates out 4 to 5 weeks for all models, on all carriers.

Apple's flagship smartphone went up for sale just after 12:01 a.m. Pacific on Friday, though only a lucky few were able to snag a copy before ship times began to slip beyond the scheduled Nov. 3 launch date. As of 12:11 a.m., Apple's online store pegged shipments for most models at 2 to 3 weeks, an estimate that quickly rose to 4 to 5 weeks less than an hour later. As of 1:45 a.m. Pacific, shipping estimates stand at 5 to 6 weeks.

Prior to Friday's start to preorders, analysts warned stock on hand would be scarce. KGI's Ming-Chi Kuo, for example, said Apple will likely take receipt of a paltry 2 to 3 million units prior to the November debut. That number is dwarfed by first weekend sales of iPhone 6 — arguably Apple's last "big" iPhone release — which stood at more than 10 million units.

A number of reports leading up to Friday's preorder round noted constrained supply of key iPhone X components. Initially, Apple was seeing low OLED display yields, but those problems were supposedly rectified this summer. Later, rumors fingered the TrueDepth camera as a bottleneck. The advanced depth-sensing camera system requires parts that only a select few manufacturers can provide.

In particular, suppliers were supposedly having trouble producing TrueDepth's "Romeo" element, or the transmission module that includes a dot projector and flood illuminator. Romeo works in tandem with a "Juliet" reception module consisting of sensing elements like infrared and full-color HD cameras.

Kuo believes flexible circuit boards are to blame for the holdup. Most constrained is supply of iPhone X antenna FPCBs made by Murata and Career Tech, with wide-angle camera module FPCBs coming in second. Echoing reports from other outlets, Kuo said dot projectors are also in short supply.

The analyst expects 25 to 30 million iPhone X units to ship in the fourth quarter, while the Nikkei Asian Review expects only 20 million to ship by the end of 2017.