Long wait well worth it, say NZ iPhone fans

Kiwis eager to get their hands on the new iPhone 6 and 6+ have queued overnight - and in some cases, for a week online.

The highly anticipated phone was officially released in New Zealand at 12.01 this morning.

Vodafone stores in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin opened their doors at 12.01am for keen Apple fans.

Spark (formerly Telecom) tried something different, allowing customers to pre-book their places in online queues by registering an oversized novelty "emoji" - pictures popularly used in text messages - which are printed off and hold their space in the queue.

The phone then went on sale at 7am this morning in Spark stores.

Spark spokesman Sam Durbin said it's not a traditional midnight launch."It just kind of suited what we wanted to do. It just fitted with our concept a bit better."

Karla Goodwin will be the one of the first people in Auckland to get the new iPhone 6, thanks to securing a place in the emoji queue.

Ms Goodwin said she was excited to hold the phone in her hands.

"I'm really excited. I've got the [iPhone] 5 at the moment.

"I use my phone for everything. The new iPhone has so many great features I can't wait to use the new camera and things."

The controversy around the new phone bending in pockets and software issues hadn't deterred her, she said.

"I don't put my phone in my pocket anyway, so that's not an issue. They're bringing out updates [to iOS 8] all the time."

After the one hundred people in the emoji queue get their phones they will be up for grabs by members of the public.

Mt Eden man Damon Dai, 20, was the first person in line for a new phone yesterday outside Vodafone's Queen St store.

Queuing for nine hours was worth it, he said.

"I'm a real Apple fan. I love Apple, I purchase all the Apple products," the recent immigrant from China said.

"I adored Steve Jobs, he's my hero. He changed our world."

He had a full battery on his iPhone 5s and enough mobile data to see him through to the midnight launch, he said, and wanted the new, larger phone for its more powerful output and thinner design.

Mobile phone company 2degrees will launch later still, at 8am, in Auckland at their Sylvia Park store and Yoobee in Newmarket, as well as in Wellington and Christchurch.

Coffee would be provided to the early birds and street performers had been organised, a spokesman said.

Some upgraded features
Size: the iPhone 5s measures 123.8mm x 58.6mm x 7.6 mm and weighs 112g.

The iPhone 6 measures 138.1mm x 67mm x 6.9 mm and weighs 129g, while the Plus' increased screen size stretches to 158.1mm x to 77.8 x 7.1mm and hits 172g.

Screen: the iPhone 5s had a 4 inch Retina screen, the iPhone 6 has a 4.7 inch screen, and the 6 Plus features a 5.5 inch screen

Memory: The iPhone 5s comes with 16, 32 or 64Gb of solid state memory. The iPhone 6 models come in 16, 64 and 128Gb.

Power: The iPhone 6 is powered by Apple's latest A8 processor and has faster processing power and faster graphics.

Battery: The iPhone 5s is capable of 250 hours of standby or 10 hours of chatting before it needs a charge. The iPhone 6 can handle 50 hours of audio and 11 hours of video. The iPhone 6 Plus offers 80 hours of audio and 14 hours of video.