Apple: iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus Preorders Broke Records

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus appear to have broken all prior iPhone preorder sales records, moving a whopping four million units in just 24 hours. The new iPhones went on sale Friday, September 12.

Apple says demand has been so high that it’s outstripped supply, to the extent that while a “significant” number of folks should receive their phones starting Friday, Sept. 19 when the phone officially goes on sale, many will have to wait until October to see theirs turn up.

Apple notes that it’s set a certain quantity of the new phones aside for its Apple Stores, so that “walk-in customers” (Apple’s euphemism for “stand-in-line-for-days-fanatics”) have a shot at picking one up on September 19 at 8:00 a.m. local time. Apple’s encouraging folks to arrive early for the privilege, or to simply order from the Apple Online Store and secure a phone for pickup onsite. The company adds that it’s allocated an unknown quantity to carriers including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless as well as “select Apple Authorized Resellers.”

How big a preorder record are we talking about? Two years ago, Apple said iPhone 5 preorders during the same initial 24 hour period were in the two-million range. Apple didn’t issue a press statement on iPhone 5s and 5c, both of which went on sale a year later in September 2013, but the iPhone 5s and 5c went on to sell nine million units during their opening weekend, breaking all prior initial weekend iPhone sales records.