Apple has announced that its latest iPhone 4S handset that was released last Friday (14th of October) has been so popular that over 4 million devices were bought over the first weekend – which is more than double that of the original iPhone 4’s first weekend sales.
Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing notes, “iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend—the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days.” in a press release issued today by the company.
This is a massive amount of users on the uptake, seeing as the handset is only an incremental update to the iPhone 4 and not a brand new handset that was much rumoured. The 4S is, on the surface, the same handset as the original iPhone 4 with improvements to the handset’s performance (by way of new processor and new OS) and improved camera plus a few new features, most notably the voice-commanded Siri system.
Apple has also announced that the iOS 5 Operating System that was launched a few days before the iPhone 4S’ release has also been downloaded over 25 million times in the week just gone, which would explain some of the download and installation speed issues consumers were having with the update.
4 million units seems to be only the start, with many network providers and customers still awaiting stock of handsets, and for an ease in the amount of time spent ordering an upgrade (we spent 2 hours on hold for our o2 iPhone 4S!), you can be assured that the sales won’t slow in the coming weeks.
However, now that customers have had the Apple iPhone 4S for a few days and many more are receiving ordered phones as we speak, there may be a slight slowdown in sales as many people are realising the minimal aspect to the phone’s update…
With the iPhone 4S being released in more than 22 additional countries after October 28th and more than 70 by the end of the year, it would seem the sales figures won’t be slowing down any time soon.
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[spoiler]iPhone 4S First Weekend Sales Top Four Million
CUPERTINO, California—October 17, 2011— Apple® today announced it has sold over four million of its new iPhone® 4S, just three days after its launch on October 14. In addition, more than 25 million customers are already using iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, in the first five days of its release, and more than 20 million customers have signed up for iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices. iPhone 4S is available today in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK, and will be available in 22 more countries on October 28 and more than 70 countries by the end of the year.
“iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend—the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever.”
iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri™, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking.
Pricing & Availability
iPhone 4S comes in either black or white and is available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model, $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the new 64GB model.* iPhone 4S is available from the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores and through AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, and select Best Buy, Target and Walmart stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. iPhone 4 is available for just $99 (US) and iPhone 3GS is available for free with a two year contract.
iPhone 4S will be available on October 28 in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
*Qualified customers only. Requires a new two year rate plan, sold separately.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.[/spoiler]