Eager buyers – joined by at least one robot – flocked to Apple stores from Sydney to New York, itching to get their hands on the new models, which boast a 3D touch feature and an improved camera.
At the Apple Store in Soho, by 10am the line still rounded the corner and spanned an entire block on Greene Street. Apple employees were scattered along the sidewalk to ensure order and encourage pedestrians who stopped and stared to keep moving.
But while some standing in line were diehards like John Kim, who said he was an “Apple fan” as he dashed from the store, new iPhone in hand and late for work, many were not the longtime enthusiasts one might expect.
Aaron Bock, who exited the store at 11.15am with a 64g white iPhone 6S said he had “never gotten an iPhone on the first day before”. He was “really shocked how easy it was, especially after having seen how crazy people were in previous years”.
Bock claimed it was a “really good process, smooth, easy”, since he made a reservation beforehand and only spent 20 minutes in line and 25 minutes inside.
But he did notice that the non-reservation line dragged. And that it was primarily made up of visitors to the US, including “a lot of Asian tourists”.
The lines boasted a large number of non-Americans. Of the 10 people the Guardian spoke to, only two were from America.
Mihkel Mäesalu, who was from Estonia and was in New York for a vacation, had been in the line since 7.30am. He was blasé about the event and claimed the wait was “not a big deal” since he had podcasts to listen to. His flight home was later that day. When asked why he decided to spend his last day in New York waiting in line, he said: “I figured why not?”
Jacqui Skoyles, from London and in town for a wedding, said she “would never line up” if she were back home.
“It’s cheaper here than in the UK. I think it’s about £200 [$300] cheaper,” she said. “I’m not fussed about rose-gold or whatnot, I just want a phone that works. If we’re still in line after an hour, we’ll leave. ”
About half way through the line, Don King waited patiently. He said that he had been there since 6:50am. Originally from Australia, he and his wife were in the US for a four week road trip and his phone was “near death”. So he lined up for a new one “out of necessity”.
“I wanted the newest one because I knew I would regret it if I bought an older one,” he said.
Nimrod and Shirit Rinky, who were visiting from Israel, were in line for a friend back home. Despite being seventh in the reservations line after only a few minutes, they agreed they were unprepared for the scene they were walking into.
“I’m texting him right now, telling him he’s a son of a bitch,” Nimrod said with a laugh. “I don’t think we would have done this if we knew what it would be like.”
Analysts expect 12m to 13m phones to fly off the shelves in the first weekend, up from more than 10m last year when the launch of the hugely successful iPhone 6 was delayed in China, the world’s biggest smartphone market.
Apple, whose shares were up 1% in pre-market trading, has said pre-orders suggested sales were on pace to beat last year’s first-weekend performance.
Among the first to pick up the new iPhone 6S in a cold, rainy Sydney was a telepresence robot named Lucy, operated by marketing executive Lucy Kelly.
“I obviously have my work and other things to attend to and can’t spend two days lining up so my boss at work suggested I take one of the robots down and use it to stand in my place,” she said, via an iPad mounted on top of the wheeled robot.
After a dramatic redesign last year, which included an enlarged screen and the addition of mobile payments, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus boast more modest improvements.
The phones, which are the same size as last year’s models, feature 3D touch, a display technology based on a “Taptic Engine” that responds according to how hard users press their screens.
Several reviewers have said the new features might not be compelling enough to persuade iPhone 6 users to upgrade.
“You might not feel the usual pull to get a new iPhone unless you really want a better front-facing camera,” Nilay Patel of the Verge said in a review published on Tuesday.
Apple has said just a fraction of its customers have upgraded to the iPhone 6, suggesting there is plenty of room to grow this year.
Sales of iPhones accounted for nearly two-thirds of Apple’s revenue in the latest quarter. First released in 2007, it is Apple’s best-selling device to date.
Repair firm iFixit, which opened up an iPhone 6S and 6S Plus on Friday, said battery capacity was down “a bit”, probably to accommodate the Taptic Engine. Apple has said battery life is unchanged in the new phones.
The new iPhones use chips made by, among others, Qualcomm Inc, Avago Technologies Ltd, Qorvo Inc’s TriQuint Semiconductor and RF Micro Devices, Texas Instruments Inc and Skyworks Solutions Inc.
The iPhone 6S houses NAND flash memory chips made by Toshiba Corp, while the iPhone 6 used memory chips made by SanDisk Corp. The 5S used memory chips made by SK Hynix Inc.
Lackluster offerings this year from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd will help Apple stand out in the marketplace, analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy wrote in an email. “Over the long haul, the 6s will eclipse the 6 as Apple is even more competitive versus Samsung in emerging regions and is gaining share in traditional regions,” Moorhead said.
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus start at $199 and $299 respectively with a two-year service-provider contract.
Apple’s shares were trading at $116.20 in pre-market trading on Friday. Through Thursday’s close, the stock had risen 2.4% since Apple unveiled its latest iPhones on 9 September.
