Apple for the first time released two new iPhones instead of one last week â€" and in multiple countries around the world, including China. That strategy resulted in record iPhone sales, nearly double the sales of the previous model, the company said Monday.

Apple said it sold nine million new iPhones over the weekend. That compares to five million iPhone 5 smartphones sold last year in the first weekend the device went on sale.

“This is our best iPhone launch yet,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, in a statement. “While we’ve sold out of our initial supply of iPhone 5S, stores continue to receive new iPhone shipments regularly. We appreciate everyone’s patience and are working hard to build enough new iPhones for everyone.”

The company did not say how many of each model was sold, but it had expected the iPhone 5S, the more expensive model, to be more popular. Apple allowed customers to place early orders for the iPhone 5C, the lower-cost model, but not the iPhone 5S because of expected supply constraints.

Sales of the new iPhones topped analysts’ expectations. They had predicted Apple would sell eight million new iPhones.