Apple’s iPhone 5s And iPhone 5c Sell 9M Units Over Opening Weekend, Topping 5M For iPhone 5 Last Year

Apple has just issued a press release revealing it sold 9M iPhones during the launch weekend of its iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s. As is typical for the company with new hardware, it hasn’t broken out individual model sales, but other signals point to a stronger debut weekend for the higher-end iPhone 5s than for the 5c. Apple blew away its previous record for first weekend iPhone sales, which was 5 million for the iPhone 5 last year.

The iPhone 5s was reportedly sold out in retail locations quickly around the globe, and shipping times at online Apple Store websites also slipped quickly into vague October time frames. The 5c, however, remains in stock and ready to ship within 24 hours at most, if not all international Apple online stores. Analysts had predicted between 5 and 8 million launch weekend sales across both devices, with KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo predicting a higher percentage going to the iPhone 5c. Stock constraints could mean that Kuo is still correct, despite the sell-out of the 5s models, but data from Localytics suggests otherwise.

If Apple stays true to its history, it probably won’t break out individual model sales of iPhone 5s and 5c, as it has never broken out iPad mini sales, for instance. Analysts and market researchers will be plugging away at retail and other sources to try to determine the split, however, so it’s possible we could eventually see some sort of consensus estimate emerge as a best possible guess.

Apple also announced that 200 million devices are now running iOS 7, the update it released for its mobile platform last week. That makes it the “fastest software upgrade in history,” which is in keeping with the early numbers we saw reported from developers and analytics firms. iTunes Radio, the new streaming music service introduced by Apple in iOS 7, ad 11 million listeners during its launch weekend, which is doubly impressive because that’s a U.S.-only service for now. Compare that to 200 million registered users for Pandora at last count, a milestone that took six years to achieve.

Another factor to consider with respect to these device numbers is that Apple’s iPhone 5 launched in just 9 markets around the world, while the iPhone 5s and 5c debuted in 11 total, including China, where launch demand appeared strong. China accounted for two million sales of the iPhone 5 during its launch weekend last year alone, so that likely has added considerably to the total this time around for the 5s and 5c.