Verizon has stood out among the four major wireless carriers in the United States by not promising to deliver Samsung’s Galaxy S3 by June, instead giving a July availability date for the South Korean manufacturer’s latest flagship handset.

Given this, and the reports of slipping ship dates for pre-orders, it’s been widely expected that Verizon will fall victim to the same sort of supply problems that befell AT&T and Sprint’s release of the Galaxy S3.

As such, the most recent news could come as a surprise to plenty of people: Droid Life and Phandroid reported that Galaxy S3 units pre-ordered on Verizon will reach their buyers starting on July 5. The carrier has sent out shipment notifications to customers who ordered the device last month, saying that they should expect their new handsets by June 5 or 6.

However, not everyone has been lucky enough to get their Galaxy S3s early. It seems like even people who’ve put in their orders within hours of the pre-orders’ opening in June haven’t gotten any shipment notifications. Still, for the lucky few, Verizon has apparently over-delivered on their promised launch date.

Consumers who passed on the pre-order opportunity could still get the Samsung Galaxy S3 on Verizon’s network starting July 10. While both the 16GB version and the 32GB version – priced at $200 and $250, respectively – will be available online, only the model with the smaller capacity could be bought at retail locations.

Samsung aims to sell 10 million Galaxy S3s worldwide by the end of the month. The handset is undoubtedly the must-have smartphone of the moment, and it should be well-positioned to battle Apple for the hearts and wallets of buyers when it releases its latest iPhone later this year.