iPhone 6, 6 Plus Pre-orders Top 4 Million in First Day

Pre-order sales for Apple's brand new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus topped 4 million during on their first day of availability last Friday. Apple said its first day pre-orders set a new record ahead of this Friday's official in-store launch, and exceeded the company's pre-order inventory.

iPhone 6 pre-orders hit record numbers in first dayiPhone 6 pre-orders hit record numbers in first day

CEO Tim Cook said, "Pre-orders for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus set a new record for Apple, and we can’t wait to get our best iPhones yet into the hands of customers starting this Friday."

The new iPhone models will be available in stores on Friday, September 19, starting at 8AM local time. Pre-orders will deliver the same day for customers who managed to complete their order earlier enough last Friday to beat the inventory depletion.

Apple said the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be available on launch day in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK beginning this Friday. The new models will be available in 20 more countries on September 26 including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.

The iPhone 6 line up was unveiled last Tuesday at a special media event at the Flint Center in Cupertino. The new models will be available with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays, 8MP cameras with improved image sensors, higher quality displays, 802.11ac WiFi, a new motion coprocessor, thinner bodies, NFC support for the Apple Pay mobile payment system, and more.

Apple didn't offer pre-orders for last year's iPhone 5S launch, but still sold 2 million units on launch day. The company said it was "completely blown away" by iPhone 5 first day pre-orders, and the iPhone 4S came in at a million pre-orders for its first 24 hours.

The iPhone 6 is available in 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacities priced at US$199, $299, and $399. The larger iPhone 6 Plus costs $299, $399, and $499 for the same capacities. Online orders are showing ship dates in October instead of availability this Friday, so anyone who didn't hit the pre-order deadline that wants one right away will have to wait in line.

[Some image elements courtesy Shutterstock]