IPhone 4S’ first-day preorders top 1 million
More than 1 million people ordered Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4S in the first 24 hours the smartphone went on sale, easily surpassing the record 600,000 units sold on the first day for its predecessor.
The impressive first-day preorders are a bit of good news for Apple when the company could use some after the death last week of its co-founder Steve Jobs.
“We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S,” Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said in a statement. “The first-day preorders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched, and we are thrilled that customers love iPhone 4S as much as we do.”
The iPhone 4S sales probably got a big boost from the fact that the new phone is available to more U.S. consumers than any previous iPhone version, with Sprint joining AT&T and Verizon in selling the gadget.
Still, such solid numbers — about as good a start as any new gadget can hope for — might ease some investor and pundit fears that the iPhone 4S might not be different enough from the iPhone 4 to sell well.
The iPhone 4, which looks the same as the 4S but has less sophisticated hardware inside, is Apple’s bestselling iPhone overall so far. The iPhone 4 has sold more than the first three generations of iPhones combined, Apple has said. It also held a single-day preorder record of 600,000 units, which was surpassed by the iPhone 4S.
The iPhone 4S has the same pricing structure as previous iPhones at $199 for 16 gigabytes of storage and $299 for 32 gigabytes, both on a two-year contract. Apple is also releasing a 64-gigabyte iPhone for the first time, which sells for $399.
The iPhone 4S is set to arrive in stores Friday, the same day that those who have preordered the device should receive their handsets.
