Apple Sells Nine Million iPhones Over Weekend

Nerval's Lobster writes "Apple managed to sell nine million iPhones over the weekend, with the company claiming its initial supply of high-end iPhone 5S units completely sold out. Apple didn't sell out of the new iPhone 5C, its plastic-cased (and cheaper) alternative to the iPhone 5S; models are still available for shipment within 24 hours from Apple's online store. And the iPhone 5S selling out is no surprise: in the weeks ahead of the new iPhones' launch, rumors persisted that the initial production run of the device was relatively small in scope, which would make it far easier for Apple to sell out of its first batch. But how many iPhone 5C units did Apple actually manage to sell? In August, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that Apple would produce just over 5 million iPhone 5S units ahead of the device's launch weekend; if that number's accurate, and Apple sold every single one, it would mean Apple sold roughly 4 million iPhone 5C units in order to reach that 9-million-sold figure for both models. That's an impressive figure for any smartphone, of course, and it could quiet some of the naysayers who have spent the past several months suggesting that Apple's best years are behind it."

Re:Maybe it's just me, but...

[Above]

iPhone 5s "T-Moble Contract Free" prices, are $649, $749, and $849, depending on the amount of storage. See iPhone 5s [apple.com]. The iPhone 5C prices are $549, $649. See iPhone 5c [apple.com].

Using an average price of $649, and 9 million units sold, that's $5.84 billion in revenue. That doesn't could any accessories (cases, car chargers, etc) or Apple Care sales.

GTA V made a relatively puny $1 billion. You know, chump change.

Re:It is not Android...so..

[aaarrrgggh]

Samsung claimed 20MM Galaxy 4's shipped in the first two months. Sales estimates for the time period were much lower though.

Re:Maybe it's just me, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to post anon because I work for AT&T. As normal this time of year all employees are on red alert, no new vacations can be scheduled because of the iphone release, and many of use have to go on mandatory overtime. Apple, realizing it was an incremental update, laid down some new rules for us. Many of our call centers could not sell it, and we had to force the majority of users that normally called into to order it, to use our website. Oddly enough our response to the new Iphone was less than stellar as it had been in previous years, and we saw very few customers seeing it as a must have device. And we were shipped absurdly small amounts of units so we could sell out quickly. You can still get them in places like Best Buy, Radio Shack and Walmart. Plus 99.9 percent bought the phone at a subsidized price.

Re:Maybe it's just me, but...

[halfEvilTech]

9 Million x 100 = 900 million not 9 billion

math fail!

if it was $20 profit per phone that would be $180 million profit

Re:The problem with selling 5C units is

[UnknowingFool]

I think the whole point of the 5C was to remove manufacturing constraints of the case. Really the 5C is the 5 in a plastic shell. In years past, Apple would sell the previous model at a discount while ramping down production of the older line. The problem I think with doing it this time is the aluminum case of the 5 was more difficult to manufacturer than previous models. My understanding that they mill the cases which takes a great deal more time and expensive CNC machines. While Apple could devote more resources to assembling the 5S, they were going to be limited by the cases. The 5C using plastic bypasses the bottleneck.

Re:Feeble minds.

[rsborg]

The iPhone 5S is the 2nd fast phone on the market.

Educate yourself with the fact that, for now, it's the fastest [1]. The entry beating the A7 in many of those tests is a latest-gen desktop processing chip from Intel.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review [anandtech.com]

Re:Success

[AmiMoJo]

It's encouraging but really doesn't say that much. Apple hype up every new release far more than other companies because they have only one or two products in each market. For example they release one or two new phones a year, where as Samsung and HTC release dozens.

What really matters is the long term trend, and we won't know that for at least six months and really need a year.

Re:Sorry - Apple is still dying.

[UnknowingFool]

To me, it's amazing that Apple's iPhone failed to establish a near-monopoly in the long term;

That is based on the assumption that monopoly was their goal; Apple isn't Microsoft. I think Apple's long term goals are more about making money than getting market domination. Would they like to sell more products? Yes, but they are not willing to sell things at a loss just for market share.

- they ignored independent crowds which hate (by principle) to be locked in (aka "You HAVE to use iTunes" or "you HAVE to have a jailed phone");

This the probably the same amount of people who want their phones to play Ogg. Also the walled garden was a selling point to many consumers who were tired of the Trojans and malware they got on other platforms. Yes you have to trust Apple, but the alternative isn't great.

Their very recent attempts to enter the cheaper market will probably be mildly successful, but I think it's a "too little, too late" attempt.

The 5C isn't an attempt to enter the cheap market. Pundits and analysts were all predicting it would; it's not. It's the same price as Apple prices on the older generation of phones.