iPhone 6's weekend sales surpassed expectations as Apple crossed the 10 million mark in terms of units sold. That's about $6 billion on the first three days.
In a press release, Apple CEO Tim Cook said:
Sales for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus exceeded our expectations for the launch weekend, and we couldn't be happier. We would like to thank all of our customers for making this our best launch ever, shattering all previous sell-through records by a large margin. While our team managed the manufacturing ramp better than ever before, we could have sold many more iPhones with greater supply and we are working hard to fill orders as quickly as possible."
According to New York Times, financial analysts estimated this year's initial iPhone sales to range from 6.5 million to a bit over 10 million, meaning Apple had managed to reach the higher end of the expectations bracket. The company surpassed last year's sales of nine million units sold on the first weekend, even though the Cupertino-based company was not able to tap the market in China this year.
Other than being products of Apple – which, in itself, seems to draw a lot of buyers – consumer interest seems to have been sparked by the new models' larger screen size. Researchers have already observed a growing demand for large-screen phones, especially those above five inches, and it seems that buyers are showing more interest for the iPhone 6 Plus with its larger 5.5-inch display than its little sibling, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6.
Wells Fargo senior analyst Maynard Um told NYT, "The iPhone 6 Plus demand is very strong. They're basically sold out everywhere we checked. But the iPhone 6 didn't look to be fully sold out."
He did clarify that it's difficult to know exactly if the iPhone 6 Plus is actually outselling the iPhone 6, or if there's a lot of supply for the smaller unit.
But regardless of whether one model is outselling the other, the iPhone 6 duo still has conquered a huge slice of the phablet market in its first weekend.
iPhone 6 is being sold for $199 (16GB), $299 (64GB), and $399 (128GB) under a two-year contract with a carrier; while iPhone 6 Plus costs $299 (16GB), $399 (64GB), and $499 (128GB), also under a two-year contract.
