Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

Apple sets new record with 1M iPhone 4S preorders on first day

Apple on Monday announced that its new iPhone 4S sold one million preorders in its first 24 hours of availability, setting a new record for the company.

"We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "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 million sales surpass the previous single-day preorder record of 600,000 set by the iPhone 4 when it launched in 2010. Total sales on the launch day of the iPhone 4 reached 1.7 million, which tied the sales record previously set by the iPhone 3GS.

Of course, the iPhone 4 eventually went on to become Apple's best-selling smartphone in its history. Total iPhone sales reached 20.34 million in the last quarter alone, a record for the company.

The first indication that the iPhone 4S would break records came on Friday, when AT&T announced that preorders had topped 200,000 in the first 12 hours of availability. That number was the highest sum ever for any handset sold by the company, which is the second-largest carrier in the U.S.

Since preorders became available last Friday, Apple quickly sold out of handsets available on this Friday's launch date. New orders placed through Apple's website are given an estimated wait time of one to two weeks before the handset will ship.

The iPhone 4S will be available at all 245 Apple retail stores in the U.S. beginning at 8 a.m. local time on Friday, Oct. 14. It also marks the first time that the handset will be available from wireless provider Sprint, which is joining AT&T and Verizon as an authorized carrier.

The iPhone 4S is available in either black or white for $199 for the 16GB model, and $299 for the 32GB model, and $399 for the new 64GB model in the U.S. In addition to America, it will be available in Canada, Australia, the U.K., France, Germany and Japan this Friday, making it the fastest iPhone roll-out Apple has ever had.

Availability of the iPhone 4S will expand worldwide to 22 more countries by the end of October including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.