iPhone 12 launch has already crushed iPhone 11 — here's why

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The iPhone 12 has almost sold as many units as the iPhone 11 did at launch, and there are still two phones to come

iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max
(Image credit: Apple)

Last Friday saw pre-orders open for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, ready for release on October 23. While we have to wait until November 6 for the iPhone 12 Mini and Pro Max models to go on sale, it seems Apple is about to have a very good year.

According to TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, between 7 and 9 million pre-orders happened over the past weekend. For context, that’s almost as many as the entire iPhone 11 range sold during its own launch weekend.

Apple reportedly sold between 10 and 12 million iPhone 11 series phones during the first weekend of sale, with recorded sales hitting between 500,000 and 800,000 in 24 hours. The iPhone 12 series reached an estimated 1.7 million to 2 million units sold in the same amount of time. 

Apple still has two phones to go as well, with the cheaper iPhone 12 Mini and top-of-the-line iPhone 12 Pro Max waiting in the sidelines. Both are likely to be popular with customers, given the small size of the former and the pro-grade camera features of the latter.

That said, Kuo doesn’t expect these devices to sell nearly as well as the 12 and 12 Pro. His prediction is that iPhone 12 and 12 Pro sales will account for 30 to 35% of iPhone 12 series shipments in Q4 2020, while iPhone 12 Mini and Pro Max are set to hit a respective 10 to 15% and 15 to 20%.

AppleInsider points out that Kuo previously predicted the iPhone 12 Mini would get a larger proportion of shipments this year, but blames the change on lackluster interest in China on account of the phone’s small display and lack of dual SIM. Instead the Chinese market is more focused on the iPhone 12 Pro.

In other words, everything is going very well for Apple. Units sales are close to beating last year’s effort, even though two models have yet to come, and one of the world’s biggest smartphone markets has decided it wants a more expensive model. Cupertino must be full of some very happy people right now.

If you want an iPhone 12, but haven’t got your pre-order in yet, make sure to check out our roundup of the best iPhone 12 pre-order deals to make sure you get the best possible plan.

Tom Pritchard
Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.