[swombat]

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

Not a fair comparison, given that 5S + 5C is two models.

It would be fairer to compare it to the sales of the 5 + 4S last year - which were probably not 9 million, but certainly more than 5 million.

[ZeroGravitas]

As mentioned on the other thread, pointing to the official announcement, the iPhone 5 launched in China on a different date, so it had 2 million sales on its launch there.

So to get the real comparison you need to add first weekend sales of the 4S in standard launch countries and China to that 7 million figure.

[swombat]

That makes the 9 million figure a whole lot less impressive. From 7+ million to 9 million... but it's not that unthinkable that there could have been 2 million iPhone 4S's sold when the iPhone 5 launched, so that it could even be a step down from the previous year.

[sxcurry]

Right, 9 million is pretty unimpressive, especially when you consider that Blackberry managed to sell over 3 million last quarter. Major Fail Apple.

[swombat]

It's 9 million over one weekend, not over a quarter. The Blackberry number is irrelevant in that perspective.

[sxcurry]

Sorry, I was trying to be cute. Major Fail me.

[demallien]

Apple doesn't break down numbers to the device level. 5M sold last year was 5m combined iPhone sales (all models). So this really is an apples to apples comparison...

[ZeroGravitas]

That's what I thought too, based on something I read recently, but check the source:

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/09/24iPhone-5-First-Wee...

[YooLi]

This year there are two new models, that is why they are grouped. Last year the iPhone 5 was the only new model released on opening weekend.

[reidmain]

I don't think that comparison would be completely apt. In the eyes of the public the different name and colours will stir up different buying emotions.

[swombat]

Sure, but prices dropping by $100 also stirs up emotions.

I'm not implying that Apple didn't do a great job by moving to the 5S/5C split, just that it'd be fairer and more useful to compare 5S/5C to 5/4S and 4S/4 - if only for the fact that it doesn't leave any room for pedants like me to argue :-)

[panacea]

My 'if I was an oracle' wish would be two-fold:

I realise 5S supply would be very, very constrained initially... so how well did introducing the 5C unconstrained at launch work?

I think the 'champagne' phone would have sold out in the launch weekend, regardless of supply. Is Apple playing this out? (yes).

Every customer lining up, or entering stores are dropping almost a grand. You want to keep some top tier 64gb 'space grey' in stock, to sop up those who missed out on a different alloy.

And everyone who isn't eligible to upgrade? Well you get a fantastic OS, and you can buy a nice case! Well played Apple. And I mean that without bitterness. Great product launch.

[swombat]

http://qz.com/127294/what-apple-wont-tell-you-the-iphone-5s-...

This article is claiming that most of the phones sold are 5S's, actually... which would mean the 5C is making a moderate difference to that number... just enough to bump from 7 million to 9 million, perhaps!

[Shivetya]

I wonder if people are associating the color options/not metal on the C as making it more teen/younger set oriented? Or just cheaper overall? Quite a few people still find status in the phone they carry.

[baddox]

It depends what you mean by "fair." One could just as easily argue that it's not fair to compare last year's 5 + 4s sales to this year's 5s + 5c sales, since this the latter is two brand new models.