Over 20 million iPhone 6 handsets have been pre-ordered on the Chinese mainland since access to Apple's latest smartphone models became available on Oct 10, the Beijing News reported.

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be released in the Chinese mainland on Oct 17.

Apart from Apple's online store and three Chinese telecom carriers' pre-ordering platforms, online retailers including Jingdong and Suning also allow customers to reserve the new phones.

By Tuesday, reservations on Jingdong had reached 9.49 million, with 4.82 million for the iPhone 6 Plus.

Apple on Tuesday also opened access to pre-orders of the new models at its 12 retail stores on the mainland. As long as customers succeed in pre-ordering online, they can pick up their new smartphones at retail stores starting on Oct 17, rather than wait to receive them by mail. By 6:30pm, the company's website showed that very few models were still available.

The number of reservations and sales show that the bigger iPhone 6 Plus is more popular. In response to this, Apple has adjusted its production plan to provide more of the 6 Plus, according to an unnamed person from the phone's supply chain.