The wait is over! Apple fans around the world finally get their hands on the iPhone 6 - but for some it's too much to handle
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After days of sleeping rough outside flagship stores, eager Apple fans have finally got their hands on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Demand is so high that people have been selling their place in queues for thousands, and Apple has been limiting customers to two phones each.
In London, hundreds of people outside Covent Garden and Regent Street packed away their tents as they jostled to get their hands on the new phones.
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Eager fans: People queue outside an Apple shop in London this morning. Demand is so high that people have been selling their place in queues for thousands, and Apple has been limiting customers to two phones each
Sam Sheikh, 27, based in east London said he'd been waiting there for over three days to bag his gold coloured iPhone plus and was the first customer in the UK to get his phone.
Standing at the front door of the shop in a shirt and smart blazer he said: 'I'm very excited. I came last week and started queuing with my friends.
'Last time this happened, unfortunately I couldn't get the phone I wanted. So this time I decided I had to get it...I didn't want to lose out.'
Security staff kept people inside huge festival style barriers that stretched the entire lenghth of Covent Garden up to the Royal Opera House entrance.
Mr Sheikh's friend Jameel Ahmed, 26, from Harrow, who was also smartly dressed in a green suit jacket despite spending the night on the street added that he's excited to test out his new phone's features.
The wait is over: After days of sleeping rough outside flagship stores, eager Apple fans have finally got their hands on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Pictured are Jameel Ahmed (right) amd Sam Sheikh (left), the first two customers to get their hands on the new iPhone 6 at Apple's Covent Garden branch in London this morning
Crowded: Hundreds of customers - mostly men - were waiting outside the Apple Store in Covent Garden for the iPhone 6 launch this morning. Security staff kept people inside huge festival style barriers that stretched the entire length of Covent Garden up to the Royal Opera House entrance
Taking a break: Up to a thousand people wait in a queue reaching as far as Bond street to lay their hands on the first iPhone 6 sets at London's Regent Street Apple store. For some, the wait just got too much
'I'm very happy,' he said. 'The last time I queued for it in Regent Street I didn't get the gold one.
"I was very sad. This time I'm getting the £699 64 GB model. It's the one I want and I'm looking forward to testing it out.'
Apple devotees also gathering outside the Eldon Square store in Newcastle this morning, with fans rushing through the doors to become the first owners.
William Underwood, 23, was first in the queue with his girlfriend Zoe Brass, 18. The architecture graduate, from Chester le Street, County Durham, is
completing a architecture internship while working as a retail assistant.
He said: 'We have been here since 8pm last night outside the Eldon Square entrance. We came through for dinner and thought there is no point going home so we stayed overnight.
Money making: Ahead of doors opening, one of the tents (not pictured) was being manned by Task Rabbit, an online company that outsources household errands, after being paid by a client to queue up on their behalf
Tense: People have been waiting to get their hands on the phones since they were launched last week. Prices for the iPhone 6 start from $869, compared with $649 in the US. The iPhone 6 Plus will retail from $999 in Australia and $749 abroad
'We had brought some chairs with us just in case. There has been times when I have felt sleepy. I think I have had about 45 minutes of sleep and I have work at 10am.'
Zoltan Wiettchen, 24, of Plaistow, east London, said he was first in the queue at the Regent's Street store and had been reserving a spot for his girlfriend.
'My girlfriend is over there sleeping in the first tent in the queue,' he said. 'I set up camp on September 8th at night.
He said he had been disturbed by revellers over the weekend, adding: 'I've had drunk people kicking the tent and pulling me out to take pictures while I sleep.
Excited: A member of the public celebrates at the launch of the iPhone 6 at the Apple store Covent Garden today
Victory: William Underwood (pictured), 23, was first in the queue at Newcastle with his girlfriend Zoe Brass, 18. The architecture graduate, from Chester le Street, County Durham, since 8pm last night
HOMELESS CHARITY AUCTIONS OFF PLACE IN THE QUEUE
Depaul UK, a national youth homelessness charity, is hoping to raise money by offering its place in the queue to the highest bidder.
Volunteers from Depaul UK have been queuing at the Apple Store in Oxford Circus since Wednesday for the new iPhone.
iPhone fans can search 'Depaul spot 4 sale' on eBay and bid for Depaul's queue place, which will be sold off to the highest bidder. All the money will go towards helping young people off the streets.
The first iPhone 6, however, was sold to an American man who travelled all the way to Australia in order to retrieve it.
Cult of Mac reported that Dave Rahimi and his girlfriend Jasmine Juan decided to collect their iPhones in Sydney, though the couple had reserved them back in California.
Mr Rahimi and Ms Juan edged out a separate line of customers by getting to the front of the store pick-up line.
The first batch of new iPhones in the world went on sale in Australia, but one of the first punters to get his hands on the phone managed to drop it as soon as he left the store.
Jack Cooksey was the first to buy the iPhone 6 at the Perth Apple store on Friday morning but as he excitedly showed off his new purchase to a reporter outside, it spilled out and fell to the ground.
The crowd of people waiting in line groaned as he bent down to pick it up - crack free - and carefully placed it back in the box
Meanwhile, tempers flared among the mob of Apple fans queued outside the Chatswood store in Sydney.
Global success: Apple employees prepare the newly released iPhone 6 for sale at the Apple store in Berlin today. Handsets have been limited to two per customer
High-five: A customer leaves with one of the first iphone 6's from the Apple store in Regents Street, central London, England, today after waiting in line all week
One angry fan yelled at police outside the store, complaining about queue jumpers before officers moved him to the back of the line.
'It's unfair! I'm waiting here for whole night,' the man yelled.
Apple had enforced a strict embargo that prevented retailers from displaying the new phones or boxes bearing the product before 8am AEST.
The queue at Sydney's flagship Apple store stretched for several blocks throughout the city and was nearly half a kilometre long well before the shop even opened.
'It's exciting, like a festival,' said one queuer, Jin Sik Kim, who had been there for about 22 hours.
Apple says it received four million pre-orders in the first day, up from the previous high of two million for the iPhone 5 two years ago.
Elated: Andy Woolford, 49, was the first in the queue for the new iPhone 6 Plus, leaves the Apple store at the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham with his brand new iPhone 6 Plus
The first batch of new iPhones in the world went on sale in Australia today, but one of the first punters to get his hands on the phone managed to drop it as soon as he left the store. Jack Cooksey was the first to buy the iPhone 6 at the Perth Apple store on Friday morning but as he excitedly showed off his new purchase to a reporter outside, it spilled out and fell to the ground
In Japan, the new iPhones are now being sold without a SIM lock for the first time, with huge numbers of fans pushing through the doors of Tokyo's Apple stores.
And buyers from China, who have missed out of the latest iPhone launch, were among the first in line to get their hands on the Apple gadgets.
People with prime spots outside these shops were also able to earn money for being so keen - with one place in New York being sold for $2,500 (£1,500).
First in the world: David Rahimi holds up his iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus after he became the first customer to purchase them in Sydney. He travelled from the US to get his hands on the smartphones
Tempers flare: Customers stand in a line outside the Apple store in Sydney this morning. One angry fan yelled at police outside the store, complaining about queue jumpers before officers moved him to the back of the line
Mobile phone retailers across the country were trying to draw customers in with live music and free coffee ahead of the release.
Telstra, Vodafone, Optus and Virgin Mobile allocated extra stock to their CBD stores.
Those queueing at Telstra CBD stores in George Street, Sydney; Bourke Street, Melbourne; Queen Street, Brisbane; and Rundle Mall, Adelaide were being promised prizes, coffee, a DJ and comfy beanbags, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Telstra even roped in Australia's Got Talent winners Justice Crew and the X Factor's Dami Im and Jai Waetford to perform for waiting customers in Sydney, Melbourne and Sydney.
The iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6 are compared at a Telstra Store today in Sydney, Australia. Australian buyers have the first opportunity to purchase the device because of the local time zone
Vodafone was offering free coffee to customers and Virgin Mobile promised goodie bags.
Prices for the iPhone 6 start from $869, compared with $649 in the US. The iPhone 6 Plus will retail from $999 in Australia and $749 abroad.
A handful of keen fans have been queuing outside the firm's Fifth Avenue store in New York since September 1, when the phones were still a rumour.
'We wanted to beat the record, which had been 18 days,' Brian Ceballo, who arrived at Apple's NYC flagship on Sunday to wait, told CNBC.
One couple - Moon Ray, 25 and Jason, 29, were among seven people in new York queuing up a week ago.
They travelled over 1,000 miles (1,609km) from Jackson, Mississippi and arrived in New York on September 1 to find that they were not first in the queue, because cousins and New Yorkers Joseph Cruz and Brian Ceballo had beaten them to it.
The Mississippi couple paid $2,500 (£1,500) to swap places with the cousins.
Ahead of doors opening, one of the tents is being manned by Task Rabbit, an online company that outsources household errands, after being paid by a client to queue up on their behalf.
Uma Subramanian of the firm, said: 'We're taking it in turns to man the tent for a client who requested our services online. I cannot say how much he paid us or who he is, because that's confidential, but our workers charge between £10 and £20 an hour for whatever activity they have been paid to do.'
Apple unveiled its latest smartphone last week alongside its much hyped Apple Watch. The iPhone 6 has a 4.7-inch screen, curved edges and will be available in dark black and gold, while the iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5-inch screen and 185 per cent more pixels than the 5S.
The iPhone 6 will start at $199 on a two-year contract for 16GB, $299 for 64GB and $399 for 128GB, while the iPhone 6 Plus starts at $299 for 16GB, $399 for 64GB and $499 for 128GB.
The iPhone 6 is 6.9mm and the iPhone 6 Plus is 7.1mm thick, compared to 7.6mm on the 5S. Both devices have Retina HD displays.
Both handsets feature the new Apple A8 64-bit chip, an 8MP camera and iOS 8 software, among a host of other features.
David Rahimi and Jasmine Juan travelled from California to Sydney to be among the first in the world to lay their hands on the new iPhone on Friday morning
How the handsets stack up: The iPhone 6 is 6.9mm, the iPhone 6 Plus is 7.1mm thick. This table shows how the new handsets compare with rival offerings including the HTC ONes, Samsung Galaxy Note Edge and Amazon Fire
Workers in Sydney had trouble manoeuvring the large crowds on Friday morning as queues stretched around the block
Apple staff at the Sydney store were prepared for the influx with extra stock on hand to keep up with demand
Chris Jennings was one of the lucky few first through the door at one of Telstra's flagship stores in Sydney
The iPhone 6 queue in Sydney ahead of launch. Some fans attempted to jump the line and were met by angry chants from others who had been waiting for days
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