Apple Inc. (AAPL) Sets New iPhone Launch Weekend Record, Shares Surge

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has just released the numbers from the first weekend of sales for the iPhone 5S and 5C. Both handsets became available for purchase on Friday, and the company set a new record. It sold 9 million iPhones over launch weekend—nearly double last year’s iPhone 5 launch weekend of 5 million.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Sets New iPhone Launch Weekend Record, Shares Surge

Shares of the company’s stock surged in premarket trading after the announcement, climbing more than 6 percent.

Apple reports record-breaking launch weekend

On Friday investors and analysts were watching what looked like longer lines than usual, although at that point it wasn’t clear how much of those lines were due to the fact that the iPhones 5S wasn’t available for preorder. This morning Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian J. White issued a report to investors with the findings of his surveys from launch weekend.

He said according to his findings, the iPhone 5S was “by far” Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s more popular handset. There were early indications that the gold model was the most popular, and White said it appears as if the gold iPhone 5S is the rarest of the three colors offered. He said his checks suggest silver is the second rarest. He said the rarity of these two colors could mean that they are more difficult to manufacture than the other.

iPhone 5S models sold out by Saturday or Sunday

As some analysts had been expecting, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) appears to have sold out all of the iPhone 5S models it had available for the weekend. According to White’s checks, it was mostly sold out by Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning, depending on the location. He said “a small percentage of stores” still did have some models of the space grey iPhone 5S. He notes that although new iPhone 5S shipments should “trickle in” this week, he believes demand for the handset will continue to exceed supply, at least for now.

White says unlike the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 5C appears to be widely available. Almost all of the stores they surveyed still reported having all five of the colors available, although he found anecdotal evidence of the green model being the most popular, at least among the 126 new iPhone buyers he surveyed Friday in New York.

iPhone 5S more popular than the 5C

Of the small sample he surveyed, 88 percent of them bought the iPhone 5S, while just 12 percent bought the iPhone 5C. He notes that the 5C was available for preorder although the 5S was not, so this likely had an effect on the results.

White also found that of those buying either the iPhone 5S or 5C, 15 percent of them were upgrading from the iPhone 5, 36 percent from the 4S, 23 percent from the iPhone 4 and 26 percent from other vendors.

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