Apple’s iCloud is currently having a backend glitch that’s causing account activation and new device setup failure.
iCloud users began posting the unspecified issue regarding the service, and the system status webpage shows how the issue is ‘ongoing’, but no further details have been mentioned.

Users who were activating new Apple products such as the HomePod, Apple Watch and iPhone were affected and went on to Twitter to report the problem. Aside from error messages that didn’t allow activation to continue some are saying that account creation and new device setups were taking an exceptionally long time.
Apple responded on Twitter and acknowledged the iCloud setup issue, saying how there’s a high capacity which may impact the setup process. The company’s response was to ‘try again’ in a few hours.
Today’s holiday season is an exceptionally busy time for Apple, with the release of the iPhone 12, AirPods Max and HomePod mini.