By Patrick May
San Jose Mercury News(TNS)
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Scrambling to meet an unexpectedly robust demand for its new iPhone 6s Plus, Apple said Monday that preorders have been so strong that the company should surpass last year’s record sales of 10 million phones over the first weekend.
“The online demand for iPhone 6S Plus has been exceptionally strong and exceeded our own forecasts for the pre-order period,” Apple said in a statement. “We are working to catch up as quickly as we can, and we will have iPhone 6S Plus as well as iPhone 6S units available at Apple retail stores when they open next Friday.”
Unveiled last week at an event in San Francisco, the two new models – the 6S and the slightly larger 6S Plus – became available for preorders over the weekend. Hyped on stage by CEO Tim Cook and his lieutenants as practically a compete overhaul, with the slogan “The Only Thing That’s Changed is Everything,” the new phones have more memory and faster chips inside. Besides a new 12 megapixel camera, the phones feature a new “3D Touch” screen that allows users to dive deeper into an email or webpage simply by applying more pressure to the glass with their fingers.
“This news doesn’t surprise us,” said analyst Tim Bajarin with Creative Strategies. “Apple continues to give reasons for people to upgrade, including the new 3D Touch, and the improved camera and processor.”
Bajarin also pointed out that fewer than a third of iPhone owners have upgraded yet to the original iPhone 6 released last September, “so there’s still plenty of headroom for iPhone 6Ss and 6S Plus growth.”
Apple stock jumped more than 1 percent during trading Monday.
(c)2015 San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)
Visit the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) at www.mercurynews.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.