Initial reservation for Apple’s latest iPhone iteration- iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus- has hit the 2 million milestone in the first six hours of booking, new report claims.
According to pre-order reports from Chinese publications ITHome and Sina, retailers and mobile carriers have booked over 2 million reservations for the new Apple handsets within just 6 hours of opening their queues.
The report noted that majority of the pre-orders were made for the higher end 64GB iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models, which sell for 6,088 yuan ($991) and 6,888 yuan ($1,121), respectively, instead of the low-cost variants.
Apple had earlier issued a press release on Wednesday confirming that preorders for the new handsets from its online store wouldn’t begin until Friday October 10, and that buyers could reserve the new iPhones beginning Tuesday October 14 for in-store pick-up beginning on Friday October 17.
The Cupertino had announced on Tuesday that the 2 new iPhone 6 variants will be offered on 3 of China’s wireless carriers including China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom 4G networks. The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus will ship with 16GB, 64GB and 128GB of built-in storage in gold, silver, and gray options.
“We are thrilled to bring iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to our customers in China on all three carriers at launch,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, adding that the customers will have access to high-speed mobile networks from the carriers with support for TD-LTE and FDD-LTE.
The much awaited launch announcement comes after the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) granted an approval to Apple to market its new smartphones in China following “rigorous security testing” that addressed potential data security risks related to the operating system’s diagnostic tools.
The 16GB iPhone 6 has been priced at 5,288 RMB ($861 US), the 64GB at 6,088 RMB ($991) and the 128GB variant at 6,888 RMB ($1122), while the iPhone 6 Plus has been priced at 6,088/6,888/7,788 RMB ($991/1122/1269) at the same three capacities.
