MOSCOW, September 26. /ITAR-TASS/. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales began in Russia at midnight on Thursday. Several thousand gadgets were sold out at night, and some shops ran out of stock within one hour. Retailers say they will sell 350-400 thousand iPhone 6 to the yearend.

The new smartphone appeared on sale in the Far East first, and as midnight approached other time zones, the sales moved westbound. Prices with all the retailers are the same: from $835 for a “regular” version of iPhone 6 with 16GB memory to $1,227 for iPhone 6 with bigger screen and 128 GB memory.

In Moscow, queues by major retailers began growing two hours before midnight. Many cars were parked along Moscow’s main Tverskaya Street, though parking is not allowed there.

The start of iPhone 6 sales was similar to what happened as retailers started offering earlier releases. “At the start of sales, the number of customers is about the same we saw earlier,” deputy head of Euroset Viktor Lukanin told ITAR-TASS. “There are fans who prefer to buy a gadget on the first night, but anyway the first night is rather a marketing exercise. It is too early now to speak about any results, as most clients will come during the following day.”

Another big retailer, MTS, says their pre-order for Apple's new gadget was by three times bigger than the one for iPhone 5 and 5C. Retailer Svyaznoy says about 70% of their order was for the model with the “regular” screen.

The retailer chose not to give any forecasts, but one of them told ITAR-TASS about 350-400 thousand gadgets may be sold in Russia to the yearend.