Apple Announces 4M iPhone 6 Preorders as Shipments Kick Off from China

Wondering why you had so much trouble trying to preorder that iPhone 6 on Friday? Turns out a record number of people were trying to do the exact same thing, leading to the largest 24-hour preorder sales in Apple's history.

Apple today announced the iPhone maker racked up a record number of initial preorders last Friday, with more than four million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models claimed by customers during the first 24 hours. (For comparison's sake, the iPhone 5 racked up two million preorders on the first day back in 2012, which was Apple's previous record.)

That's an especially impressive number considering Apple's website was almost completely missing in action for the first three hours after preorders kicked off at 12:01 AM PST Friday morning, forcing early adopters to rely on the Apple Store app or take their chances with carriers including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or Verizon Wireless.

“iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are better in every way, and we are thrilled customers love them as much as we do,” remarked Apple CEO Tim Cook. “Preorders for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus set a new record for Apple, and we can’t wait to get our best iPhones yet into the hands of customers starting this Friday.”

Many of those iPhone 6 models are already en route from China, with MacRumors today reporting that one such 747 cargo plane recently arrived in Alaska, where the plane will continue on to its final destination in Chicago. One of the website's forum members just happened to be a crew member on one of those planes, and snapped the photo above to show the hull stuffed to the brim with pallets of iPhones.

The next round of excitement kicks off this Friday, September 19th at 8AM local time, when Apple retail stores and carrier brick-and-mortar locations in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, and the U.K. swing their doors open for business. The following week, on Sept. 26, the iPhone 6 will land in an additional 20 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates.

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(Image courtesy of MacRumors and goforblacksky)