Here's how big iPhone launches have gotten over the years
After all the speculation, anger, and reviews, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are finally available for everyone to judge for themselves. And while analysts expected demand for this year's largely samey models to be relatively subdued, early signs have suggested that plenty of people are ready to upgrade - carriers like T-Mobile and Sprint reported high pre-order numbers, and Apple itself said all iPhone 7 Plus models (and "jet black" iPhone 7s) would be sold out in stores on launch day.
The Cupertino company has to be hoping those are good signs, since the iPhone 7 has a ways to go to beat last year's models. As this chart from Statista shows, iPhone launch weekend sales have continuously grown over the past seven years, with last year's iPhone 6s and 6s Plus reaching a high of 13 million units sold. Given that Apple has already said it won't be releasing launch weekend numbers this year, it might feel like that bar is just too high to clear, despite its apparent demand.
