Apple iPhone 5s, 5c Release: Weekend Launch Smashes Sales Records

Apple on Monday announced another record-breaking opening weekend for the iPhone, this time for its seventh-generation iPhone models, the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company boasted sales of 9 million units in the first three days since its Friday release, compared to last year's record of 5 million iPhone units sold during the same span.

“This is our best iPhone launch yet―more than 9 million new iPhones sold―a new record for first-weekend sales,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a press release. “The demand for the new iPhones has been incredible, and while we’ve sold out of our initial supply of iPhone 5s, stores continue to receive new iPhone shipments regularly. We appreciate everyone’s patience and are working hard to build enough new iPhones for everyone.”

Though Apple did not release specific sales figures for the iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c, it’s widely assumed that the iPhone 5s did most of the heavy lifting, considering the hype surrounding its new fingerprint sensor, much-improved iSight camera and gold color option. Apple will not release any statistics, but Boston-based Localytics said the iPhone 5s was roughly 3.4 times more popular than the iPhone 5c in the U.S., and roughly 3.7 times more popular internationally.

The gold iPhone 5s, in fact, may have been the biggest factor on Friday, with higher-than-normal demand for the color but a “grotesquely unavailable” supply. Many customers were disappointed to find Apple had not supplied any of the major carriers with the gold iPhone 5s, and Apple Stores had extremely limited supply. The Wall Street Journal says the company is increasing production of the gold iPhone 5S by about “one-third,” but Apple has yet to comment.

About The iPhone 5C

The iPhone 5c either replicates or improves upon the features in its predecessor, the iPhone 5, but there are a few noticeable differences. First, Apple has replaced the all-aluminum unibody enclosure of the iPhone 5 with a reinforced polycarbonate solution, and the iPhone 5c will also release in five different colors instead of two (black and white), including blue, green, yellow, pink and white.

Inside the shell of the iPhone 5c, most of the specs look identical to those in the iPhone 5. Running on the same A6 chip, the iPhone 5c features the same 4-inch Retina display, the same 8-megapixel camera with 2.4 aperture and single-LED flash, and will also run iOS 7 upon its release. Apple has improved a few features in the iPhone 5c, including the front-facing FaceTime camera and the phone's battery, and the iPhone 5c also supports 13 LTE bands, which is more than any other current smartphone (besides its cousin, the iPhone 5s).

About The iPhone 5S

The iPhone 5s features the same 4-inch Retina display and chamfered diamond-cut edges, but the phone also comes with a number of new innards. The iPhone 5s also features a new A7 processor -- with CPU performance 40 times faster and GPU performance 56 times faster than the original iPhone -- and Open GL, just like the new Nexus 7. More notable, however, the iPhone 5s comes equipped with Apple's new M7 chip, which contains all the motion-tracking hardware Apple needs to make its iWatch a reality. By packing so many components into the M7 motion co-processor, including an accelerometer, gyroscope and compass, the M7 can continuously measure motion data for the newest generation of health and fitness apps.

The iPhone 5s also features a slightly modified battery for greater life, a new camera system for slow-motion video photography, and a fingerprint sensor called Touch ID, which lets users authenticate ownership and user passwords by simply holding their thumbs on the iPhone’s signature home button.

Touch ID is 170 microns thin, senses 550 ppi, and can scan sub-epidermal skin layers. With 360-degree readability, you can hold your thumb in any orientation and it can still be read correctly. The entire apparatus contains a tactile switch, Touch ID sensor, a stainless-steel detection ring, and a laser-cut sapphire crystal, which makes it unscratchable. Touch ID can also handle multiple fingerprints, so you can grant access to your iPhone 5s to only certain people.

The iPhone 5s also features a new camera system, which includes a new pill-shaped dual-LED flash and a tighter aperture. The dual-LED flash will help for lower-light settings, but its new camera aperture will also help control the amount of light in each photo.

What do you think of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c? Are you disappointed by the low supply of the gold color? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Follow Dave Smith on Twitter