Apple claims 10 million iPhone sales in its first three days

Apple is claiming it has sold 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smartphones in its first three days on the market, in another repeat of a common Apple post-launch hype tactic.

The claim was made in a post on Apple’s official website, based on the device’s first weekend of sales across US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK.

A similar sales tactic was used to hype the release of iPhones and iPads in the past. A nearly identical press release was issued by Apple for the iPhone 3GS in 2008 (1 million units), iPhone 4 (1.7 million units), iPhone 4S (4 million units), iPhone 5 (5 million), and iPhone 5S (9 million).

It comes a week after the tech giant claimed a record number of pre-orders for the iPhone 6, in the process issuing a press release that was remarkably similar to the one issued for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4s.

Even in the June quarter, a weak quarter with no new model to suddenly drive sales, Apple sold around 35.2 million iPhones, which is nonetheless a drop in the ocean compared to the record 300 million smartphones sold during the quarter.

Apple has consistently produced fewer units than are demanded by consumers over the first weekend, apologising almost every single year in its opening weekend press release since the iPhone 4.