Apple is finally giving hard numbers again — and they're fairly impressive.
Apple announced early Monday that it sold "more than" 13 million iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plusdevices in its opening weekend, setting a new launch record for the company.
Last year, Apple said opening weekend sales for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus topped 10 million.
“Sales for iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus have been phenomenal, blowing past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple’s history,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a typically rah-rahstatement. The 6S and 6S Plus went on sale in stores Sept. 25.
The Cupertino-based company had been uncharacteristically vague earlier this month in announcing pre-sale figures for the new line of iPhones, simply saying it was "on pace" to beat the previous opening weekend sales record of 10 million. This followed months of being cagey about releasing sales figures for the Apple Watch, Apple's newest shiny gadget.
"We believe Apple has continued to push more customers to pre-order devices to avoid long lines on launch day," Gene Munster, a prominent Apple analyst with Piper Jaffray, wrote in an investor note Friday about signs of demand. He predicted sales of 12 million to 13 million iPhones, roughly in line with today's numbers.The usually long, meandering lines outside Apple Stores — a hallmark of iPhone launch days — were noticeably smaller in certain areas this year as customers were able to do more online ordering (and, at least in New York,because of the pope's visit).
"Apple had a 16-day window between the time of the 6S announcement and the launch day compared to nine or 10 days for each of the four prior launches," Munster added in the note. We believe the longer window allowed for more pre-orders than typical."
In another positive sign, Apple announced that it is rolling out the iPhone to new countries at a faster pace than the previous year.
Apple stock was down about 1% in early trading Monday following the iPhone sales announcement.
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