By Xu Wang and Adam Satariano - Oct 11, 2011 3:14 AM GMT+0700
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The iPhone 4S, announced this week, will feature an A5 dual-core CPU and dual-core graphics chip that work "7 times faster" than on the iPhone 4; features a new camera with advanced optics; 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri, an intelligent assistant. Photograph: Apple/MCT/Newscom
Apple Inc. (AAPL) received more than a million preorders for the iPhone 4S in a single day, putting the company on a record-setting sales pace ahead of the device’s Oct. 14 release.
The preorders topped the previous record of 600,000 set by the iPhone 4 last year, Cupertino, California-based Apple said today in a statement. Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S last week, pricing it at $199, $299 and $399, depending on the features.
The rush signals that there’s pent-up demand for the new model, which was released 16 months after the last one -- a longer wait than with previous iPhone releases. The preorders indicate Apple may sell nearly 3 million in the first weekend, almost double the number sold in the opening weekend last year, said Mike Abramsky, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets. The sales also suggest that customers were unfazed by Apple not updating the iPhone’s body design.
“The early momentum of the iPhone 4S reaffirms Apple’s leadership in smartphones,” said Mark Moskowitz, an analyst at JPMorgan & Chase Co. The strength of the orders should silence those who said the lack of a redesigned body on the iPhone 4S would deter buyers, he said.
Apple may sell more than 25 million iPhones in the quarter ending in December, making it the “strongest iPhone launch ever,” said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray Cos. The iPhone is Apple’s biggest source of revenue, accounting for about half of sales.
‘Intelligent Antenna’
The new model comes with voice-command features and a higher-resolution camera, and can run as long as 8 hours on one charge. It also has an A5 chip that will make graphics seven times faster than the old processor and an “intelligent antenna system” for improved call quality.
Apple’s shares rose 5.1 percent to $388.81 today in New York trading. The stock has increased 21 percent this year.
The iPhone 4S will be Apple’s first major hardware release since the Oct. 5 death of co-founder Steve Jobs. It will be available at Apple retail stores in the U.S. beginning at 8 a.m. local time on Oct. 14, the Cupertino, California-based company said today in a statement.
Three Carriers
For the first time, the device is available from all three of the largest U.S. carriers. AT&T Inc. (T) said Oct. 7 that it received more than 200,000 preorders for the iPhone 4S in 12 hours, marking the company’s most successful debut yet for the Apple device. The other two, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), haven’t released sales figures. The phone works with both CDMA and GSM wireless standards, which are used in different parts of the world.
Adding Sprint as a carrier has helped boost preorders, said Jeffrey Fidacaro, an analyst at Susquehanna International Group. Sprint, the third-largest U.S. mobile-phone service, has an opportunity to add 6 million users a year, he said.
The record sales also may be a tribute to Jobs’s legacy, said William Choi, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC.
“It’s the last phone developed with Steve Jobs at Apple,” Choi said. “There are definitely some sentiments at play here.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Lisa Rapaport in New York at lrapaport1@bloomberg.net; Xu Wang in New York at xwang206@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net
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