Apple announced Monday that the iPhone 5 garnered more than 2 million preorders in its first 24 hours, more than doubling the amount received for its previous iPhone 4S last year.
The iPhone 4S saw 1 million preorders over its first 24 hours. Phones ordered online today will ship in two to three weeks, according to Apple's website. And analysts say phones available at retail, starting at 8 a.m. Friday, will probably be sold out by Sunday.
"iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal," said Philip Schiller, the head of Apple's marketing, in a statement issued Monday.
U.S. mobile carrier AT&T also said its sales broke earlier records. AT&T subscribers ordered more of the new smartphone model than any previous iPhone both on its first day of preorders and during the weekend, the carrier said in a statement today, without providing details.
Analysts were expecting Apple to again reference opening weekend sales, and had forecast numbers as high as 10 million.
Piper Jaffray's analyst Gene Munster wrote in a note to investors today that at best Apple will sell between 8 million to 10 million iPhones, and at worst, 6 million.
"While we continue to believe an 8 million launch weekend figure is achievable, we believe that the 2 million preorders suggest that the worst case weekend sales figure is likely to be 6 million," Munster wrote.
To put that in perspective, Apple sold 270,000 of its original iPhones in the device's first 30 hours on sale back in 2007. Last year it took a weekend to move 4 million.
The iPhone is Apple's best-selling product, making up about two-thirds of profit. The company's entry into the smartphone market in 2007 has resulted in sales of 244 million iPhone units and helped Apple become the world's most valuable company.
