Apple receives record 4 million iPhone orders on first day

The handsets are most likely to hit Indian shores either around Diwali in October end or in November

Apple had more than 4 million advance orders of its new iPhones in the first 24 hours, exceeding its initial supply, the company said on Monday.

The company said the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be delivered to customers starting Friday (September 19), but many won’t be delivered until October.

Phones will still be available on Friday on a walk-in basis at Apple retail stores and from various wireless carriers and authorised Apple resellers.

Apple’s website had intermittent outages last week because of heavy traffic as orders began online. The company said the 4 million orders set a new 24-hour record.

Last year, Apple sold 9 million phones in the first three days they were on sale.

The iPhone 6 features a 4.7-inch display, while the iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5 inch screen. Compared to a thickness of 7.6 mm of iPhone 5S, the sixth generation has a thickness of 6.9 mm (iPhone 6) and 7.1 mm (iPhone 6 Plus), respectively. The devices also feature Apple-designed A8 chips, which have 25 per cent faster processing power and up to 50 per cent faster graphics. The handsets feature 8MP iSight camera and support Voice over LTE. The iPhone 6 also has improved face detection for selfies and group selfies.

The phones will initially be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK Availability will expand to more than 20 additional countries a week later.

It may still take some time before the latest version of the iPhone makes it to India. The handsets are most likely to hit Indian shores either around Diwali in October end or in November like the previous launches in the country.