Dive Brief:
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Weekend sales of the iPhones 6 were more than 10 million, Apple announced Monday. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the figure beat the company’s own expectations, though it was more or less in line with many analysts’ expectations.
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Many of those lined up at retail stores for the new phones were resellers catering to customers in countries where the phones are not yet for sale, including China, Russia, Italy, and India.
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Apple didn't give a breakdown of how many of the iPhone 6 sold compared to the larger-screen iPhone 6 Plus, though many observers said the smaller — though still larger to date — iPhone 6 sold more.
Dive Insight:
Even with all the caveats, sales of the iPhones 6 seem destined to outpace Apple’s previous sales figures for its launches of even the iPhone 5s and 5c, which saw sales of 9 million in their first weekend. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that the iPhone 6 release will trigger the "mother of all upgrade cycles,” and that appears to be panning out.
That is most likely to do the phones’ significantly larger screens. But many observers say the phones are being scooped up by fans and resellers, and that it remains to be seen what the long term holds.