iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus on pace to surpass last year's record, says Apple

NEW YORK: Apple said its new iPhone models are on pace to surpass last year's record first weekend of 10 million units when they go on sale September 25, signaling continued demand for the company's flagship device.

Unlike last year, Apple didn't give figures for preorders in the first 24 hours. The new models, introduced at an event in San Francisco last week, feature an improved camera, faster processor and a new feature called 3D Touch that provides shortcuts to common tasks when pressing firmly on the screen. “Customer response to iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus has been extremely positive and preorders this weekend were very strong around the world,“ Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said.

Maintaining healthy demand for the iPhone is critical for Apple, which got more than 60% of its revenue from the handsets in recent quarters.Analysts also have raised questions of whether the new models will be able to match the success of last year's record-setting release, when the company introduced with bigger screens.

In September 2014, it got a record number of first day preorders for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, with more than four million in the first 24 hours. The new iPhones hit stores on September 25 in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the UK and the US.