iPhone 5 Preorders Top 2M in First 24 Hours, Shattering Record

Cnet: Apple has revealed that it accepted 2 million pre-orders for the iPhone 5 in the first 24 hours of availability. That’s twice as many orders as it took for last year’s iPhone 4S in the first 24 hours. “IPhone 5 preorders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal,” said Apple’s Philip Schiller. Canaccord Genuity technology analyst Michael Walkley is now estimating that the company will sell 9 million to 10 million of the new smartphones before the month is over.

Meanwhile, people have begun lining up outside some Apple stores in order to be among the first to purchase the iPhone 5 when it hits retail shelves this Friday.