Apple sold 3 million iPad minis and fourth generation iPads during their first weekend of availability. That figure is inline with first weekend sales of the third generation iPad from March, although Apple is calling it a new record by breaking out WiFi-only sales from the earlier launch at 1.5 million units.
According to Apple, iPad mini and fourth generation iPad sales are double the previous iPad launch weekend record of 1.5 million.
“We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “We're working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand.”
Apple began selling two new iPad models on Friday, November 2. The iPad mini is a smaller version of the popular multimedia tablet sporting a 7.9-inch display, and the fourth generation iPad includes a faster processor compared to the months-old third generation iPad it replaces.
Only the WiFi version of the iPad mini was available for the launch weekend, so at least some customers that will buy are holding out for the WiFi plus LTE models that are due later in November.
Apple didn't break out how many of the 3 million iPads sold were the mini and how many were the full size fourth generation model, although Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicted the company would sell between 1 million and 1.5 million iPad minis over launch weekend.
Apple typically doesn't break out individual model sales, so it isn't any surprise that we aren't seeing numbers on just iPad mini sales. While the company's iPad launch weekend numbers are strong, the fact that Apple chose to compare this weekend's total iPad sales to a subset of March's launch weekend sale will likely become a point that Apple competitors and Android tablet fans will call out.
Even still, Apple reported strong first weekend sales, and showed that there's a place for the iPad in the 7-inch tablet market.