Apple received more than 1 million preorders for its new iPhone 4S in the first 24 hours it was available, surpassing the previous single-day record of 600,000 set by its predecessor, the iPhone 4.
“We are blown away with the incredible customer response to iPhone 4S,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, in a statement. “The first-day preorders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched."
On Oct. 4 Apple revealed the details of the iPhone 4S, a device that includes an 8-megapixel sensor (60 percent more pixels than the iPhone 4's existing 5-megapixel camera) and a dual-core A5 chip -- the same as in Apple's iPad 2 tablet -- which makes it 33 percent faster than the iPhone 4. In addition, the iPhone 4S features full 1,080p HD resolution video recording and Siri, a new intelligent assistant application that seeks to find answers for questions asked by voice.
The iPhone 4S will be available at Apple's 245 retail stores Oct. 14 and is now available on Sprint, as well as AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Meanwhile, Apple's new iOS 5 is scheduled to be available to current iPhone users Oct. 12.
The release marks Apple's first major product release since the death of former CEO Steve Jobs on Oct. 5. Jobs had resigned on Aug. 24 after years of battling pancreatic cancer.
New CEO Tim Cook made his public debut introducing the iPhone 4S, an event that many Apple diehards found underwhelming because they expected more new features. Still, with more than 1 million sold in the first 24 hours, it's clear many were happy with the upgrade.
Apple shares were trading at $383.40 Monday morning, up $13.62, or 3.7 percent. By comparison, the Dow Jones and Nasdaq indices were up 2.5 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively.
