Apple's iPhone 5s And iPhone 5c Sell 9M Units Over Opening Weekend, Topping 5M For iPhone 5 Last Year

Apple has just 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.
If Apple stays true to its history, it probably won’t break
out individual model sales of iPhone 5s and 5c, as it has
never broken out iPad mini sales, for instance. Analysts
and market researchers will be plugging away at retail
and other sources to try to determine the split, however,
so it’s possible we could eventually see some sort of
consensus estimate emerge as a best possible guess.
Apple also announced that 200 million devices are now
running iOS 7, the update it released for its mobile
platform last week. That makes it the “fastest software
upgrade in history,” which is in keeping with the early
numbers we saw reported from developers and analytics
firms. iTunes Radio, the new streaming music service
introduced by Apple in iOS 7, ad 11 million listeners
during its launch weekend, which is doubly impressive
because that’s a U.S.-only service for now. Compare that
to 200 million registered users for Pandora at last count,
a milestone that took six years to achieve.
Another factor to consider with respect to these device
numbers is that Apple’s iPhone 5 launched in just 9
markets around the world, while the iPhone 5s and 5c
debuted in 11 total, including China, where launch
demand appeared strong. China accounted for two
million sales of the iPhone 5 during its launch weekend
last year alone, so that likely has added considerably to
the total this time around for the 5s and 5c.