Apple Sells Record 13 Million iPhone 6s, 6s Plus Smartphones In Opening Weekend

Apple gave us a heads up that it was expecting a huge weekend opener for its new flagships: the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. “We are on pace to beat last year's 10 million unit first-weekend record when the new iPhones go on sale Sept. 25,” said Apple in a statement to CNBC earlier this month. “As many customers noticed, the online demand for iPhone 6s Plus has been exceptionally strong and exceeded our own forecasts for the preorder period.”

Apple’s crystal ball was right on the money, and the company once again broke records with opening weekend sales for its two new flagships. Last year — the year in which Apple finally woke up and answered the calls for larger-screened smartphones with the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus — Apple sold 10 million units on opening weekend. Apple trumped those numbers this past weekend with 13 million units sold.

“Sales for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have been phenomenal, blowing past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple’s history,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “Customers’ feedback is incredible and they are loving 3D Touch and Live Photos, and we can’t wait to bring iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to customers in even more countries on October 9.”

Those additional countries set to receive the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus in the coming weeks include Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Taiwan. By the end of 2015, Apple says that its new smartphones will be available in over 130 countries.

Apple’s new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s are no doubt impressive devices, especially when it comes to performance, thanks to its 64-bit A9 processor (which now includes 2GB of RAM). In HotHardware’s early benchmark analysis of the iPhone 6s, the dual-core smartphone is putting up some huge numbers, often topping the performance of its hexa-core and octa-core Android competition. In some cases, the iPhone 6s’ lead over the competition is rather staggering -- it just goes to show that sometimes less is more.

In addition to killer performance, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus also bring a number of improvements compared to last year’s models including stronger 7000 series aluminum bodies, 3D Touch, Live Photos, a new 12MP iSight (rear) camera, 5MP FaceTime HD camera with Retina Flash, improved Touch ID performance, faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2.