Apple: iPhone 5 Pre-orders Top 2 Million in First Day

Apple sold more than 2 million iPhone 5s during its first 24 hours of pre-order availability. Apple began offering pre-order sales just after midnight pacific time last Friday, and within an hour had already pushed ship dates out two weeks.

iPhone 5 pre-orders top 2 million in first 24 hours"iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal," said Apple senior vice president of Worldwide MarketingPhilip Schiller.

iPhone 4S pre-orders during its first 24 hours climbed up over 1 million, and the iPhone 4 hit 600,000. So far, Apple has been doubling iPhone sales during the first day pre-orders.

Apple introduced the iPhone 5 during a media event last and said pre-order sales would start on September 14. The phone will be available in stores on September 21, and for customers that bought early enough, they'll see their iPhones delivered that date, too.

The iPhone 5 includes larger Retina Display than the iPhone 4S at 4-inches instead of 3.5-inches, support for high speed LTE wireless data connections, a faster processor and longer battery life, Apple's new Lightning dock connector, and more.

The new iPhone model won't be available in stores until this Friday, but that hasn't stopped lines from forming at at least some Apple store locations, just like previous iPhone launches. With shoppers lining up already, and Apple's record breaking pre-order sales, iPhone 5 looks to be shaping up to be the company's most successful smartphone so far.