Broken phones and broken hearts: Strange stories from the iPhone 6 launch

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Lining up for hours at the mall isn’t our idea of a fun way to kickoff the weekend, but some Apple fans wouldn’t have it any other way.

The iPhone 6 hit shelves this morning.

And even though the iPhone 5s was meeting everyone’s smartphone needs just fine yesterday, thousands of people suddenly needed an upgrade today.

One man stood (and slept) in line all night in order to score the first iPhone 6 at an Apple store in Perth, Australia. The excited customer immediately showed off his purchase to reporters — and dropped his phone.

Darius Wlodarski, 41, started standing in line on Wednesday afternoon, desperate to score a new iPhone for his estranged wife, hoping to win her back.

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Hundreds of people lined up outside Toronto’s Eaton Centre overnight and this morning. Some had been waiting since Monday night. At 8 a.m., they were welcomed by cheering Apple employees.

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Crowds formed around Apple stores everywhere. Outside the brand’s Fifth Avenue flagship store in New York, the line stretched six city blocks.

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In London, it appears that men were more keen to queue than women:

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In Australia, some iPhone fans were willing to hire people to stand in line for them.

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And in Tokyo, where more than 1,000 people lined up for the phones, some eager customers had been camping outside the Apple store for a week. Six super-eager customers lined up even earlier — days before the phone’s official announcement.

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On Monday, Apple announced that customers placed a record 4 million pre-orders for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the first day of pre-orders.

At its stores, Apple is only allowing two phone purchases per customer today.

Of course, customers could skip the lines altogether and just order the iPhone 6 online.

Have you ever lined up early in order to buy a just-released product?