Apple says it sold more than 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models, a record for a new model, in the three days after the phones went on sale. A year ago, Apple Inc. said it had sold 9 million of the then-new iPhone 5C and 5S models. The iPhone is available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, and the UK. It will go on sale in 20 more countries on Sept. 26 and others by the end of the year. CEO Tim Cook said today that demand for the phones has exceeded the company's expectations.
"Basically, they hit a home run with this release" and fulfilled an unmet need by releasing bigger-screen iPhones, analyst Gene Munster tells the Washington Post. But Apple didn't reveal how many of each new phone it sold, and crammed the number of phones sold to customers, to retailers, and in pre-orders under the "10 million" umbrella. So it's unclear how many of those phones are actually being held by customers. According to Munster, about 2 million were likely sold to retailers—which is fewer than in 2013, and would mean that sales are up more than 40% from last year's launch of new iPhones. (See why Apple won't unlock its devices for law enforcement officials.)