Apple's IPhone 6, 6 Plus To Go Sale In 36 More Countries By October End

(RTTNews) - Technology giant Apple, Inc. (AAPL) announced Monday that its highly popular iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be available in 36 additional countries and territories across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa by the end of October.

Starting with China, India and Monaco on October 17, the iPhone's will be available in a total of 69 countries and territories by the end of the month, including the initial launch countries. It is also on track to be available in more than 115 countries by the end of the year, making this the fastest iPhone rollout ever.

Apple set a new record for first weekend sales of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, having breached the 10 million mark within just three days of its sales launch on September 19. Sales came from the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK over the weekend.

Analysts said the tally to have been 20 percent higher had the new iPhones been launched in China initially itself. Sales for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is now set to open in China on Friday, October 17, with pre-orders started on Friday, October 10.

This will also be Apple's fastest-ever iPhone rollout in countries such as India, Mexico, South Korea and Thailand.

The new iPhones will be available in Israel from Thursday, October 23 and available in Czech Republic, French West Indies, Greenland, Malta, Poland, Reunion Island and South Africa from Friday, October 24. It will also be available in Bahrain and Kuwait from Thursday, October 30.

It will be available in further 23 countries such as Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Guam, Hungary, Iceland, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macau, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, South Korea, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Thailand from Friday, October 31.

Cupertino, California-based Apple unveiled the two new larger screen smartphones, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, at a media event hosted by Cook in San Francisco on September 9. Cook said at the launch that it is the "biggest advancements in iPhone history."

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sport a stunning 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch Retina HD display, respectively, bigger than the 4 inch screens on the current iPhone 5S model. They also come with the Apple-designed A8 chip with second generation 64-bit desktop-class architecture for blazing fast performance and power efficiency.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are available in 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB versions, with the iPhone 6 retailing at $199 on two-year contract, and iPhone 6 Plus at $299, both the 16 GB model. The iPhones are available in gold, silver or space gray.

The iPhone 6 is available for a suggested retail price of $299 for the 64GB model and a new 128GB model for $399, while the iPhone 6 Plus is available for a suggested retail price of $399 for the 64GB model and $499 for the new 128GB model.

Apple could now be gearing up to launch an update to the iPad Air and iPad mini with larger screens. It announced last week plans to hold a "special event" on October 16 at the Apple campus in Cupertino, California, and has sent out invites to the media.

In Monday's regular trading session, AAPL is currently trading at $100.16, up $0.57 or 0.57% on a volume of 16.01 million shares.