Apple released the much anticipated versions of their new smartphones last weekend, the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, and from the first week’s sales, they’re a hit. Apple sold nine million combined units of the 5S and the 5C. According to techcrunch.com:
“Apple has issued a press release revealing it sold 9M iPhones during the launch weekend of its iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s. As is typical for the company with new hardware, it hasn’t broken out individual model sales, but other signals point to a stronger debut weekend for the higher-end iPhone 5s than for the 5c. Apple blew away its previous record for first weekend iPhone sales, which was 5 million for the iPhone 5 last year.
“The iPhone 5s was reportedly sold out in retail locations quickly around the globe, and shipping times at online Apple Store websites also slipped quickly into vague October time frames. The 5c, however, remains in stock and ready to ship within 24 hours at most, if not all international Apple online stores. Analysts had predicted between 5 and 8 million launch weekend sales across both devices, with KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo predicting a higher percentage going to the iPhone 5c. Stock constraints could mean that Kuo is still correct, despite the sell-out of the 5s models, but data from Localytics suggests otherwise.”
The iPhone 5S seems to be the surprise, as it has sold out everywhere, even in China where that market was expected to be more inclined to the iPhone 5C. It should be noted though, that Apple probably knew what it was doing by offering a gold version of the iPhone 5s, as that’s a popular color in China. In fact, Apple has had to ramp up manufacturing on the gold iPhone due to overwhelming demand.
Apple also announced that 200 million devices are already running iOS 7, Apple’s new mobile operating system.
Although nine million units is definitely record breaking for the iPhones’ first weekend sales, the fact that it’s the first time Apple released two new iPhones on the same weekend, should be taken into consideration. Nevertheless, nine million units in a weekend is nothing to sneeze at.
