大屏機得寵 新iPhone首週末銷量破千萬臺

Early sales of Apple’s new iPhones have lived up to high expectations.

蘋果(Apple)新款iPhone的初期銷售沒有辜負人們的厚望。

The company on Monday said it sold more than 10 million of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models in the first three days they were available in stores. That is higher than the nine million new iPhones it sold last year in their first weekend on sale.

公司在週一稱，iPhone 6和6 Plus在進入門店銷售的前三天裏銷量超過了1000萬臺。這個數字比去年的新款iPhone首週末銷量900萬臺還要高。

The phones’ larger screens — 4.7 diagonal inches for the 6 and 5.5 for the 6 Plus — are a considerable jump from the 4-inch screens of earlier iPhones.

手機的屏幕——6爲4.7寸、6 Plus爲5.5寸——較舊版的4寸屏要大出許多。

The iPhone sales were on the upper end of financial analysts’ expectations, which ranged from 6.5 million to the “low teens” of millions of sales.

金融分析師對iPhone銷量的預測在650萬臺到“1000萬臺出頭”之間，所以實際銷量已經達到了預測的上限。

The strong sales mirror growing consumer demand for smartphones with bigger screens. IDC, a research firm, estimated that at least 20 percent of all smartphones shipped last year in China, the largest smartphone market in the world, were five inches or larger. It also predicted that manufacturers this year would ship more “phablets,” or smartphones with screens measuring at least 5.5 diagonal inches, than laptops.

強勁的銷售反映了消費者對大屏智能手機的需求增長。據研究機構IDC估計，去年在全球最大的智能手機市場中國，智能手機總出貨量中有至少20%的屏幕在5英寸以上。該機構還預測，生產商今年的“平板手機”(phablet)——也就是屏幕在5.5寸以上的智能手機——出貨量將超過手提電腦。

Some analysts even estimated that the larger iPhone 6 Plus was more popular with consumers over the weekend.

一些分析師甚至估計在週末的銷售中，屏幕更大的iPhone 6 Plus更受消費者青睞。

“The iPhone 6 Plus demand is very strong. They’re basically sold out everywhere we checked,” said Maynard Um, a senior research analyst for Wells Fargo. “But the iPhone 6 didn’t look to be fully sold out. That’s hard to tell if it’s because Apple has a lot of supply out there, or it’s because there’s less demand for it compared to the iPhone 6 Plus.”

“IPhone 6 Plus的需求非常旺盛。基本上我們看過的地方都已經斷貨，”富國銀行(Wells Fargo)高級研究分析師梅納德·烏姆(Maynard Um)說。“但iPhone 6看起來還沒有完全售空。很難說這是不是因爲蘋果的供貨量很大，還是它相比iPhone 6 Plus的需求比較小。”

Apple’s investors — much like Hollywood producers tracking the first few days of ticket sales for a blockbuster movie — closely watch first-weekend sales for the iPhone because they are a reflection of consumer demand. The iPhone is still Apple’s biggest cash cow, accounting for about 70 percent of its profit. So early sales can help predict quarterly or even annual results for the company, based in Cupertino, Calif.

和跟蹤觀察某部大片上映最初幾天票房的好萊塢製片人一樣，蘋果的投資人在密切關注iPhone的首週末銷量，因爲這是消費者需求的一種反映。iPhone至今仍是蘋果最大的賺錢機器，其大約70%的利潤來自於此。因此早期的銷售情況可以預示這家加州庫珀蒂諾公司的季度甚至年度業績。

But some analysts, like Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, wondered whether first-weekend sales were still a reliable measure for consumer demand. The iPhone is already immensely popular in many countries, he noted before the announcement, so early sales may be more of a sign of how many iPhones can initially be produced by Apple and its manufacturing partners.

但是有一些分析師在質疑，首週末銷量是否依然是一個可靠的消費者需求衡量手段，比如派傑(Piper Jaffray)的基尼·蒙斯特(Gene Munster)。他提出在宣佈消息前，iPhone在許多國家已經極爲搶手，所以早期的銷售額可能更多反映了蘋果及其製造合作伙伴在一開始能有多少產量。

“The first weekend iPhone sales number continues to be more about how much Apple can supply than what the demand is in the market,” said Walter Piecyk, managing director at BTIG Research, an industry firm.

“首週末iPhone銷量的重點始終是蘋果的供貨量，而不是市場的需求，”產業機構BTIG研究公司(BTIG Research)的執行董事沃爾特·皮西科(Walter Piecyk)說。

Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said as much on Monday.

蘋果首席執行官蒂莫西·D·庫克(Timothy D. Cook)在週一也說了類似的話。

Apple “could have sold many more iPhones with greater supply, and we are working hard to fill orders as quickly as possible,” he said in a statement.

他在聲明中說，蘋果“如果有更大的供應，就應該能賣出更多的iPhone，我們都在努力想辦法儘快交付訂單。”

The latest iPhones also missed out on a big market: China. Apple has delayed the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus there, apparently because the devices have not yet received approval from Chinese regulators.

最新款iPhone還錯過了一個大市場：中國。蘋果推遲了iPhone 6和6 Plus在那裏的銷售，原因看起來是這些設備還沒有得到中國監管機構的核準。

Despite missing out on hundreds of millions of potential Chinese customers, Apple impressed analysts with its weekend performance.

雖然失去了數以百萬計的潛在中國顧客，蘋果在首週末的表現依然讓分析人士嘖嘖稱羨。

“Even without China, Apple was able to move $6.5 billion of product in three days which would be impressive for any industry,” Mr. Piecyk said.

“在沒有中國的情況下，蘋果可以在三天裏賣掉65億美元的產品，這放在任何產業都是很了不起的，”皮西科說。

The introduction of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on Friday was the second time Apple released two new iPhones at the same time. Last year, Apple introduced the iPhone 5S along with the iPhone 5C, a colorful plastic model sold at a lower price.

在週五推出的iPhone 6和6 Plus是蘋果第二次同時發售兩款新iPhone。去年蘋果在介紹iPhone 5S的同時，還推出了售價較低的彩色塑料型號iPhone 5C。

Apple is treating the iPhone 5C differently than past iPhones. Traditionally, Apple has upgraded each iPhone once a year, with improvements like faster chips and better cameras. But this month, instead of announcing an upgrade for the iPhone 5C, Apple said it would continue to sell the exact same iPhone, but for a lower cost: free with a contract.

蘋果在iPhone 5C上使用的策略和以往的iPhone不同。按照慣例每款iPhone是一年升級一次的，會配備更快的芯片和更好的攝像頭。但這個月，蘋果沒有宣佈iPhone 5C的升級，手機本身毫無變化，只是售價更低：合約機免費。

Analysts say that it appears Apple’s strategy all along for the iPhone 5C was to sell an older, plastic iPhone over a longer time period to allow the costs of production and components to drop. That lets Apple decrease the price of the plastic iPhone and increase market share in less affluent markets.

分析人士稱，看起來這從一開始就是蘋果對iPhone 5C的策略：在相對較長的時間裏出售一種老款的、塑料的iPhone，從而降低生產和零件的成本。這樣一來，蘋果可以降低塑料iPhone的價格，在沒那麼富裕的市場獲得更多份額。