Apple sold 13 million iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus during launch

Apple has apparently hit another homerun with the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. The company revealed that it sold a record-breaking 13 million of the devices just in the first three days of the launch. That’s on an “S” model year where the innovations are perceived to be less revolutionary, and before the device is even available in many of the countries it will eventually be sold in.

That probably means Apple will have some good news for investors next quarterly earnings report. Multiply by 13 million, carry the 3…suffice it to say Apple could burn a mountain of cash just to have a company bonfire and still have enough to buy a few small countries. I wrote about the iPhone juggernaut and the insane amount of profit Apple continues to generate:

It’s an established fact that Android is the dominant mobile OS around the world. Estimates claim that Android owns from just over 50 percent to nearly 80 percent of the mobile device market, but Apple is winning where it counts—money. According to data released by Apple it seems the iPhone money train is still steaming along nicely with a record-breaking 13 million iPhone 6S and iPhones 6S Plus units sold in just the opening weekend.

The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus are really just getting started. On October 9 the devices will become available in 40 additional markets, including Italy, Mexico, Russia, and Spain. Apple says the new smartphones will be available in more than 130 countries by the end of the year, which means the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus sales figures will just keep climbing.

“Sales for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have been phenomenal, blowing past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple’s history,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Customers’ feedback is incredible and they are loving 3D Touch and Live Photos, and we can’t wait to bring iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to customers in even more countries on October 9.”

As a whole, Android will sell far more devices. The vast majority of those devices are typically Galaxy devices—which Samsung sells in massive volume. Despite outselling Apple significantly in terms of volume, though, Samsung makes afraction of the profit that Apple does. Apple is making an estimated 92 percent of the profit in the mobile industry, followed by Samsung at a distant second with 15 percent. It adds up to more than 100 percent because the rest of the Android and other mobile device makers actually lose money according to IDC.

This isn’t a new trend either. I wrote about the discrepancy in profit in the mobile industry back in 2013:

“It turns out that two thirds of the devices that make up Android’s 81 percent market share are cheap “junk phones”. The remainder is primarily Samsung, which makes up 39.9 percent of the total Android devices shipped.

There is another area where dominant market share isn’t turning out to be an advantage for Android. In spite of a greater than six-to-one advantage in device market share, Android doesn’t sell more apps, or generate more advertising revenue than Apple.”

You can read the full story on Forbes: iPhone Juggernaut Rolls On With Record-Breaking Sales While Android Makers Fight For Scraps.