Apple records 2 million iPhone 5 preorders in 24 hours

Yesterday it was reported that Apple spokeswoman Nat Kerris had announced that Apple was blown away by the response the latest iPhone has received from customers. Though this statement comes as no surprise, as when the iPhone 5 was announced, analysts had predicted the handset to do exceedingly well. However, there was nothing to go by in terms of numbers and the mere statement by her that '‘Preorders for iPhone 5 have been incredible'’ is vague. Shortly after her announcement, Apple has now announced that the newest iPhone has recorded a whopping 2 million preorders in the first 24 hours.

According to the statement issued by Apple, this number is 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 while many are scheduled to be delivered in October. Apple goes on to claim that iPhone 5 is the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever. The brand claims that this handset has been completely redesigned to feature a 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.

An overwhelming response

"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."

Here is a quick look at the highlighted features of the iPhone 5:

• 4-inch, 326ppi Retina display at 1136 x 640 pixels,
• GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSDPA, LTE and Wi-Fi
• GPS
• Bluetooth
• 8 megapixel camera with 1080p HD recording, 720p front-facing camera
• 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions

One of the biggest changes to iOS is the addition of Apple’s own Maps app in the place of Google Maps, which Apple has done away with. The new Maps app has a built-in search for local points of interest, with over 100 million possible suggestions. Other features of the Maps app include navigation, routing, 3D maps, satellite imagery – that wraps around the 3D maps – and the ability to get directions directly through Siri. Most of the standard features of the Maps app, including satellite view, are available in almost all countries the iPhone ships to.

Siri has also been updated and new features include support for more languages, easy access to sports scores, restaurant recommendations and movie listings, Siri and Facebook-enabled apps like Photos, Safari and Maps, and Shared Photo Streams via iCloud. Though, the biggest problem is that many of these features won’t be available in India at launch.

The handset will go on sale in stores in the US and a few other countries on the September 21. iPhone 5 will roll out worldwide to 22 more countries on September 28, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. As of now, there is no information on when the handset will be officially launched in India, but taking into consideration their launch cycles over the last couple of years, especially with the iPad, we can expect this handset to be launched by end October or early November.

More information about the Apple iPhone 5 here.