News: iPhone 5 Preorders Top Two Million in First 24 Hours

Really impressive numbers for a “boring” update—apparently the public didn’t get the memo from the various pundits. This not only beat Apple’s own record for the iPhone 4S, but also backed up the supply chain through next month. Apple’s press release explains more:

Apple today announced pre-orders of its iPhone 5 topped two million in just 24 hours, more than double the previous record of one million held by iPhone 4S. Demand for iPhone 5 exceeds the initial supply and while the majority of pre-orders will be delivered to customers on September 21, many are scheduled to be delivered in October. iPhone 5 is the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, completely redesigned to feature a stunning new 4-inch Retina display; an Apple-designed A6 chip for blazing fast performance; and ultrafast wireless technology—all while delivering even better battery life.

“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, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, the most beautiful product we’ve ever made, and we hope customers love it as much as we do.”

…iPhone 5 will be available at 356 Apple retail stores in the US beginning at 8 a.m. local time on Friday, September 21. Every customer who buys an iPhone 5 at an Apple retail store will be offered free Personal Setup service, helping them customize their iPhone 5 by setting up email, showing them new apps from the App Store and more, so they’ll be up and running with their new iPhone before they leave the store…

Even AT&T got in on the preorder fun, as the iPhone 5 set a new sales record for the company. Things also seemed to go much smoother for AT&T’s servers than two years ago. Speaking of which, I suspect a lot of these two million iPhones are going to iPhone 3GS and 4 owners.