Apple Announces Record Pre-orders for iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 Plus Top Four Million in First 24 Hours
Available in More Than 20 Additional Countries on Friday, September 26 — Apple® today announced a record number of first day pre-orders of iPhone® 6 and iPhone 6 Plus …
Context & Ripple Effects
The four-million figure doubles the two million first-day pre-orders the iPhone 5 drew in 2012, and it lands three days after the larger-screen iPhone 6 Plus sold out within hours of going up for order — so the record reflects demand Apple could not fully convert into shipments. AT&T had already flagged demand running above the past two years' launches.
The pickup is broad: eight major outlets from the Wall Street Journal to Ars Technica carried the announcement the same day, treating the number as an early read on whether the bigger screens move the upgrade cycle. The next test is Friday, September 26, when the phones reach more than 20 additional countries.
First-order effects
- Apple enters launch week with the iPhone 6 Plus effectively sold out, meaning the record pre-order book converts into backorders and stretched delivery estimates rather than shelf inventory.
- Carriers like AT&T capture the near-term upside, as pent-up upgrade demand from the past two years funnels into subsidized contracts on launch day.
Second-order effects
- The September 26 expansion to 20-plus countries forces Apple to allocate constrained supply across markets, likely extending wait times in the first-wave countries while second-wave buyers face thinner initial stock.
- Component suppliers ramp to a dual-size iPhone lineup for the first time, adding a new large-screen production line whose yields determine how fast the Plus backlog clears.
Third-order effects
- If each launch's first-24-hour figure keeps setting the bar — two million in 2012, four million now — pre-order counts harden into the standard investor and press metric for judging an iPhone generation before unit sales arrive.
- Sustained record demand at larger screen sizes points toward screen size itself becoming the primary upgrade trigger, reshaping how Apple sequences supply and market rollouts around its biggest model.
The trend: Apple's iPhone launches are scaling into global demand events measured by same-day pre-order records, with supply allocation across successive country waves becoming the binding constraint.